Tatsu the Monster
by stoppedflyer
Summary: Originally meant for King, a monster lackey lands a fatal blow on the Tornado of Terror. She survives but a change has taken place in her that she cannot hope to control, a change she will try with all her power to hide. Who could accept a top hero being a monster?
1. Fatal Injury

I wanted to try something new, let me know what you think (Insert generic monster background)

Please Enjoy

* * *

"Us grunts always get the worst jobs...I might as well consider myself dead."

In the rubble of a destroyed building lied a scattered remnant of what was once the mighty House of Evolution, a small half-man, half-mole hybrid. Earthwyrm, an experiment Dr. Genus considered to be a failure. Well failure was a harsh word, he preferred the word prototype, after all the data gathered from him is what lead to the eventual creation of Ground Dragon. The reason Dr. Genus couldn't see him as an adequate success was his utter lack of combat ability, other than superb digging skills he was just a humanoid creature that looked to be wearing a half baked mouse costume. It was a real shame but at least he could take solace in knowing that he helped create a more refined creature.

But we all know what happened to them.

Within a month said creature had been killed and the house wasn't exactly around anymore to accommodate those who gave up their bodies for "science". After Carnage Kabuto was set free, Earthwyrm wisely chose to tunnel away from the underground facility and hope for the best. The result was the utter annihilation of the facility and subsequent retirement of Dr. Genus, all by a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit.

It was a tough pill to swallow but what could a single "failed experiment" do? Avenge the house by throwing himself at a man Kabuto couldn't even scratch? No, weaker creatures like himself could only look for more outcasts to hide with. With some luck he did manage to find some that accepted him without question...Unfortunately they were more than happy to treat him as nothing more than an expendable asset.

The Monster Association was less of a home and more of a sweatshop, with the lower tier monsters like himself taking the most dangerous tasks that could be given. For the most part, monsters like him were seen as nothing more than cannon fodder, and in some cases as food. With nowhere else to go and the threat of death looming over his head, Earthwyrm considered his life to be just about over, he didn't realize just how big a role he would play in the association's future plans.

The antithesis of the Hero Association hadn't revealed itself to the world yet but a gleaming opportunity headed their way once an unknown force managed to instantly annihilate A-City in a matter of seconds, none of them could have predicted an alien attack to cause such destruction effortlessly. With the ensuing battle taking up literally all of the Hero Association's time, lively debates had been sparked everywhere in order to come up with a way to take advantage of the large scale distraction. But how could they take a chance like this without wasting too many resources? It was simple, just send the lackeys who were too weak to be useful in any other way.

Originally Earthwyrm thought it would be the perfect opportunity to dig himself into a hole and hide out for a few days, just go missing and feign his death, those beasts in the association could care less if he lived or died anyway. Gyoro Gyoro had other plans for him. More specifically, he had a fun little toy to hand over to a lackey for testing. As Earthwyrm peeked out from the rubble of a collapsed building and at the gigantic ship hovering above, he unveiled the weapon he was tasked with using.

Outside of being an overall massive piece of equipment, the very style of which would make even a seasoned veteran wary of it's capability, what made this weapon special was that it was not just another piece of metal, it was a living creature, a weaponized monster in fact. The thing retained all of it's already unearthly features, including fur and an eye (Just that much was already enough to make him feint.) and small white appendages dangling from the sides that the mole could only guess were once teeth or claws. Alone it weighed almost seventeen kilograms, which was way overkill for a couple of humans, but of course his target wasn't ordinary by any means. He was expected to use a living cannon on superhuman creatures that could probably dodge a bullet easily, if not cut it, catch it mid-flight, or in certain cases a huge mound of muscle like Darkshine could take the shot head on without so much as flinching.

One could easily imagine the sort of reaction he gave when Gyoro Gyoro tried to explain the purpose behind such a tool, for a weakling like him who could do little more than reconnaissance to be made into some kind of assassin using this...Thing was a bit far fetched to say the least. But he didn't have a choice in the matter anyway.

And so despite his inability to fight, his want to escape as far as he could, and barely being able to drag this weapon around at all, he was still the one stuck with this task: To strike down one of the most well known and most feared heroes in the entire association: S-Class Rank seven hero, King.

If it were anyone else, anyone below that standard like maybe Tanktop Master or even Puri-Puri prisoner then he might have stood a chance. But his mission wasn't so forgiving. His job was to put his tunneling skills to the test, to stay undetected and fire a round right into King, a seemingly fruitless effort to imagine. No matter how powerful the weapon, it was still just a gun being used against what many considered to be the strongest man on earth, this was why our lowly mole considered his life to be forfeit.

"Even if I did hit him...I don't even know if it'd leave a scratch." The mole whispered his words in fear of being heard.

A scratch, that was all he needed. While he wasn't sure what exactly would happen should he be able to land even the smallest nick in King's skin, Gyoro had assured him that all he needed to do was hit the target and "Let the weapon work it's magic". As if words like that were reassuring, in all honesty the recoil alone would probably send him flying backwards into the rubble he'd concealed himself in. If they wanted to thin their numbers so badly, he would have preferred taking his chances with Saitama than try this, maybe then there was the chance he would get some mercy.

Knowing that he probably wouldn't survive, he steeled himself for the events to come. Rather than pouting over the grim fate that likely awaited him, he imagined the best case scenario. Escaping as the monster who felled the strongest man in the world would probably grant him more than just respect, that thought alone gave him the confidence needed to pull the trigger.

"Where did he go!?"

Only now there was just one problem: King was nowhere in sight. Among all the heroes present to defeat the alien invaders, King just wasn't there. He'd run away already.

If King was gone, then what was there left for him to do? He began to panic, rather than being the monster who took down the one and only King, he'd just be a pitiful creature that would be hunted down and killed for his failure or worse, eaten by the monster king himself.

"Calm yourself...There are... plenty of targets... to choose from..."

And then a voice whispered into his ear, soothing him almost immediately. The mole needed a moment to look around before staring down at the weapon in his hands. Being a weaponized monster it was obvious that it'd be alive, but now of all times wasn't when he expected it start talking.

"You can talk...? I guess I'm not alone in this then."

Earthwyrm took a moment to consider the stress of his situation as well as the words of his partner in crime.

"You don't think I can actually hit one of these guys do you?" He asked hopefully. If anyone the weapon itself would know what it was capable of taking down.

But the response was as grim as he'd expected.

"No...For the most part...These people could probably walk away...Unscathed…" The whisper delivered the words in an almost indifferent sounding tone.

The truth hadn't come as a surprise for the amateur experiment turned marksman, if standard guns were at all effective in this day and age then soldiers would be protecting humanity instead of heroes.

"So you want me to take a literal shot in the dark and hope for the best? I'd rather be buried alive under all this concrete." The sniper spoke with disdain clearly present in his voice.

"I fire...Unique ammunition...An anti-energy, armor piercing shot combined with a high concentration of…Monster cells..." The whisper tried again to convince him, but the mole was unimpressed.

"That would probably go bouncing off of Superalloy Darkshine easily."

Being pessimistic wasn't going to get him anywhere but he still had a chance to run from all of this, so any excuse to do so sounded good at the moment.

"Perhaps...But not all of them...Have such a powerful build...Like her...Up there..."

That final declaration however got his attention. Earthwyrm looked upwards towards the last hero he'd want to piss off, The second ranked hero of the the entire association, S-Class Rank two, Tatsumaki, The Tornado of Terror. He could already feel himself shaking.

"I think I want to run away now...She could probably block everything that ship up there has to offer without batting an eye..." The mole spoke slowly, his voice shaking just as his body did.

"Perhaps you are correct...However it would likely be... Very difficult to form a barrier...Whilst sending a barrage back to her enemy..." The whisper coerced him once again.

That was very true, the more effort an esper put into their offense, the more their defense began to lack and vice versa. It would be quite a bit of mental strain to try putting up a barrier while doing what she did now...Redirecting cannon fire back into the enemy while also using the rubble of the torn apart city to aid in her barrage, it'd be a genuine surprise if she formed a barrier at all in that situation considering she had almost all of S-Class watching her back at the moment.

"You are...A lonely individual...I can relate in many ways...I am but a piece of a being who no longer exists...Once I am used...I fear my life force may begin to fade…"

"Ironic that a monster gun is more understanding than anyone I've met in the past...It actually kinda fills me with an odd resolve to see this through."

"Amusing...Then why don't you put that resolve...To the test?"

* * *

A-City was in ruin, even with the world's best defenders in action everything was gone in an instant, leaving the heroes with no option but to try and avenge all that was lost. The one responsible for this disaster was an alien by the name of Boros, leader of a rogue crew of invaders known as the Dark Matter Thieves.

Boros learned of a prophecy that would lead him to travel to this planet to face his destiny, a destiny that would lead him to Saitama while his crew faced the other heroes who attacked his ship head on. His destined fight, while being exactly what he'd wished for also tore his ship apart, not that he cared. But while he was busy getting hit in the face and having his increasingly powerful attacks made useless in the face of the bald hero, the now faltering vehicle gave hope to those on the ground. With the ship beginning to tip over and the seemingly immortal Melzargard now fading to dust, the battle seemed all but won. The only issue now was figuring out how to clean up the mess that was left from the already botched defense strategy.

Regardless of whether or not they were winning the battle, the city had already been destroyed and many lives were already lost, there was no reason to start celebrating. Sweet Mask was even prepared to berate them for their failure.

But none were more agitated than the tiny esper floating directly underneath the ship of the invaders. It was not very often that she could demonstrate her power and put it to good use, and now that an opportunity had arisen it was still a rather distasteful situation.

"Hmph, they're lucky I don't just drag the whole thing down into the dirt."

Another barrage of rubble and discarded cannon shells pelted the hull of the ship as she spoke, reflecting her sour mood. The ship only seemed to get more and more unstable as she continued but she could tell that it wasn't all because of her, the damage the unnaturally sturdy material was taking was clearly being done by some form of internal damage as well, meaning someone snuck in and started doing more than she was.

That only made her hit the floating fortress even harder. She didn't like being outperformed.

Frowning even further and resisting the urge to go on another enraged rant, she simply focused all her efforts on doing as much excess damage as she could to the alien force without completely destroying it.

It was then that the sound reached her ears.

It was a sudden and unfamiliar sound, sharp and intense like a lightning bolt. It was the kind of sound that would make you drop everything you were holding or startle you awake from a deep sleep, to send you into a state of panic and confusion almost immediately. A fraction of a second after the sound struck, so too did an attack she was not prepared for.

Under normal circumstances she had a passive barrier in place to deflect most projectiles, it was not the most resilient of her defenses but it worked consistently, even in her sleep. In most cases it could protect her from anything an average worthless opponent could throw her way, meaning she could concentrate on her attacks rather than trying to keep an invincible barrier in place. The effectiveness was almost unfair, a small frail individual like herself bouncing away blades and energy beams without even paying attention just felt like cheating. But this time there was a lapse in her judgement, she'd made the assumption that the only enemy worth paying attention to was already being dealt with, that all her efforts could be concentrated on the air fortress in front of her, that no outside force would even reach her let alone harm her. It was a mistake she didn't even have time to regret.

The attack tore right into her from behind, right through her upper back and nearly hitting her heart. The force from the velocity of the round alone was enough to send her staggering forward a few feet, blood spurting from her as she did. It was a direct hit. Even if Tatsumaki was among the strongest of the beings on the planet, her physical body was still basically no different from a young girl's, an attack like that was devastating.

For Tatsumaki, pain was a strange sensation. Physical injury was not something she experienced often, and this time the trauma forced her into shock a few moments after the initial hit. For just a second her eyes were widened as her mind tried to process what had just happened but then, she began to fall out of the sky. Among all the heroes who'd heard and were preoccupied with trying to figure out what exactly that noise was, S-Class rank seventeen hero Puri-Puri Prisoner was the first to notice Tatsumaki falling. He broke out into a mad sprint to get to her as quickly as possible, not coming nearly close enough to catch her before she crashed into the rubble.

When he arrived he needed a moment to examine the scene in front of him, the highest ranked and likely strongest hero on the battlefield was in critical condition from whatever just hit her. The fact that an attack hit her at all was already concerning, but this was just...He couldn't comprehend the gruesome scene before him.

"Who could do something like this..?" His thoughts distracted him further.

The scene just seemed too surreal for him, and that was for a middle aged man who was currently prancing around a destroyed city in the nude. It didn't take long for others to arrive. In order there was Bang, then Atomic Samurai, and then Tanktop Master and so on. Each came and was stopped in their tracks at the sight of Tatsumaki, in all it took almost thirty seconds worth of their stunned staring before Puri-puri Prisoner scooped her up in his arms and ran as fast as he could. She needed medical attention as soon as possible, there was no time to sit there staring, she wasn't dead yet.

* * *

"Sensei!" Genos yelled out to the new opening blown into the side of the fallen ship.

He was one of the few who hadn't immediately gone to see what had happened to Tatsumaki, instead he was concerned with Saitama who'd gone and defeated Boros in a stunning display of strength without even a single spectator.

"Oh hey, Genos." His master replied blandly.

Saitama had just gotten through punching his way out of the ships exterior and was dusting himself off calmly, not the slightest bit of seriousness visible on his face.

"I'm glad to see you are alright, did you find their leader?" Needless concern etched itself into the face of the cyborg, taking note of Saitama's rather disheveled appearance, even he would have a hard time believing that Saitama had been to the moon and back in the few minutes he was gone.

"Yup, he was pretty strong, probably the strongest I've faced."

"I see...then without you..." Genos stopped there, noticing Saitama's confused turning.

"Hey Genos, where did everyone go?" The baldy was already over it, he'd won and that was that.

"Oh, I believe one of the S-Class received an injury and was escorted away."

"Geez, do you think I'll have to get them a hospital gift or a card or something?" Only now did Saitama sound worried for once.

"I do not see how that is any of our concern, Sensei."

"You know Genos, I notice you lack a lot of common sense." Saitama shook his head and with a sigh turned and walked off with his disciple in tow.

The Cyborg and hero for fun made their way home, with the former taking unnecessarily detailed notes on manners and his mentor's overly exaggerated wisdom.

Afterword

End Notes

I know the situation presented in the story is unusual at best and horribly impractical but it was a fun idea to me.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!


	2. Recovery

Boros was a really cool villain, kinda sad he couldn't play a bigger role

Please Enjoy

Seeing heroes crowd a hospital waiting room was a rare sight, even if it were a hospital designed to treat heroes in particular. For the most part heroes didn't care enough to visit one another, the loss of competition was a benefit after all. Because of the way the association was set up, heroes often saw their actions as more of a business transaction than a service to the people, a means to rank up and become more famous. This turned out to be true even amongst the highest class of them.

That being said the S-Class heroes didn't often gather unless there was an important meeting or world crisis to attend to. Yet now out of the seventeen of them, eleven had gathered to learn the fate of their little esper along with Sweet Mask, Tatsumaki's sister Fubuki and Saitama who'd been dragged along with her. This gathering was not just out of courtesy, the S-Class often saw themselves as the pinnacle of humanity, the respect and acknowledgement they had for one another was more than enough to bring them all together. Of course there was also the guilt of being there and not having been able to save her but none of them would admit to that.

"First the city and now one of your own, really the standard for S-Class is far too low…"

"Shut it, we have enough to worry about without your nagging, Mr. Celebrity."

Sweet Mask interjected with a comment that might have sparked an argument under normal circumstances, but no one was really willing to give him a response other than Metal Bat. Indeed he was correct about that, after they'd all received the news of Tatsumaki's health most would be leaving without delay, there was no time to relax. Feeling no reason to continue the conversation both men went back to waiting quietly, the only one not feeling the tension in the air was Saitama.

Finally after several hours of waiting, a man had come to deliver the news. He was a thin man, almost scarecrow like, his limbs long and his coat hanging loosely from his shoulders. This man was Stitches, who as the name implied was covered in stitched portions, each with a different skin tone than the last. Truly he looked like a mad man out of a horror film, but the reality was that he was one of the best at his job, a literal example of a hero who didn't wear a cape.

The hero association employed combat ready superhumans capable of protecting humanity from both themselves and everything around them, but there were special cases that could not be overlooked. One such case was this skin and bone doctor, a hero whose capabilities were best used in the medical field rather than in combat. His expertise and precision could not be questioned, even if he himself didn't receive the attention of a hero out in the field, he certainly deserved whatever praise could be given to him.

"It is unusual for so many to be waiting here, normally there are only close family members."

Wrong way to start off the conversation, these heroes were just about out of patience by now. Fubuki, being Tatsumaki's sister was the first to ask the question they all wanted an answer to.

"Doctor, how about my sister? How is she doing?"

"Yes...Well she suffered quite a few torn muscles in her upper back, punctured a lung and of course there was quite a bit of internal bleeding. That's not to mention a few fractures and a minor concussion from her fall to the ground after the initial injury…Fortunately she's made a full recovery and is waiting to see visitors!"

They all needed a few moments to process what he'd just told them, he just said she'd made a full recovery. A full recovery from the horrific injury they'd all seen just this morning...In a matter of hours?

"Excuse me, where is the bathroom?"

Needless to say, Saitama was the only one totally unaffected by that news.

"You mean that she is awake and that the surgery was a success then?"

His need for a bathroom was overshadowed by Bang speaking up.

"Nope, I mean she's actually totally fine. There's not even a scar."

The room had somehow gotten even more silent than before, the reason being that some were holding their breath after hearing what he'd just said. An injury as bad as the one she got should have left more than just a scar, it would be a miracle for her to survive let alone move around for awhile and he just told them that she was completely fine.

"She's...Completely healed?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I'm just as confused as the rest of you. When I'd heard I would be operating on the second highest ranked hero herself, I felt pressured to deliver the best results but it seems I wasn't needed at all. Halfway through the operation we began to lose her and I worried for failure, then she just kind of took a deep breath and boom, gone. it was like magic, any semblance of a wound just poofed out of existence, I honestly have no idea how it's possible."

Many heroes exhibited supernatural vitality, but healing from a mortal wound in a matter of hours was stretching it a bit far, Zombieman was the only one who could have been considered to do such a thing. And it was not as if Tatsumaki had shown any sort of healing factor up until now, well she didn't often take damage anyway for there to be a reason to check but it was still absurd to consider the possibility of her recovering so quickly.

"Then...Can we see her?"

"She isn't exactly cooperating very well but yes, right this way."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Tatsumaki sat up, she didn't expect to see a bunch of other people crowding the room around her. Nurses, doctors, scientists, they all looked the same, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when she reacted somewhat violently to seeing them standing around her like she was some sort of guinea pig and had them all against the walls and ceiling immediately. She actually did it a bit more forcefully than she'd intended, some of the staff were knocked unconscious from the impact.

In order to calm her down another man, one she thought looked like a skeleton considering how skinny he was began explaining the situation regarding her condition and subsequent hospitalization. "Hospital", that was the only word she needed to hear, she tuned out everything else he had to say. Injuries, recovery, all of that meant little to her now.

"Sorry about that, this was a bit too sudden for me."

She apologized. It was not something to expect from her.

When she finally settled down after realizing she was in a hospital and not a lab of some kind, she let them all go, now stuck wondering what exactly happened to her. Her memory only went as far back as pelting that ship with debris, and the gibberish being spouted by the people around her didn't make much sense without context.

Furthermore she couldn't understand why they thought she needed to be hospitalized, she felt great, more than great actually, she felt better than she had in a long while. She felt refreshed, as if any problems that were plaguing her mind before had lost all significance, she could do whatever she wanted and feel confident in doing so.

The skeleton man told her he would be heading out to deliver the news of her recovery to her visitors. By visitors she'd automatically assumed it would just be Fubuki and possibly a representative from the association, so basically no one she couldn't just talk to over the phone after she got home. She let out a sigh, her losing consciousness after a battle probably scared Fubuki half to death, she couldn't very well set good examples for her younger sister if she went about making mistakes such as that. But what exactly knocked her out? She should have been paying attention that skeleton.

Feeling that there was no need to wait around, she threw off her sheets and tore out the IV stuck into her, in her mind it was unnecessary. Then against the protests of just about everyone else in the room she hopped out of bed and made her way out into the hall, actually deciding to walk out of the place instead of just flying. There was no rush, Fubuki wouldn't need anything more than a few reassuring words and anyone else could be ignored. To say she was surprised by the entourage that awaited her would be an understatement, Fubuki wasted no time running up to her and talking up a storm. At the same time Saitama was fastening his belt, having come back from his trip to the restroom and taking notice of the girl still dressed like a patient.

"Wait, isn't she just a kid?"

Saitama got a few awkward stares, but no one judged him for his assumption. Her petite stature and bratty behavior often made most assume the very same thing, not to mention Child Emperor, who was living proof that even the exceptionally young could be at the top of the hero pyramid, it also didn't help that the gown she had on had a duck pattern to it. Being as small as she was, they gave her a child's gown. Well his assumption could be forgiven, as long as he didn't go around calling her a child to her face, they would let his ignorance pass for the time being.

Tatsumaki on the other hand was wide eyed and confused, her sister shaking her and asking very strange questions about her health. Had she been paying attention to Stitches before she might have had an idea of why her sister seemed so panicked about such a "minor" incident, instead she found herself actually getting a bit annoyed with her own sister, enough so that she had to put her hands on her shoulders to make her stop.

"Fubuki, calm down."

Her voice was commanding, in a different tone then her default upset one. For a moment they stared at each other with nothing to say, no one could doubt that she was definitely fine, physically anyway.

"Sheesh, were we a little too worried about the shorty or what?"

"Hm yes, I suppose our concern was uncalled for."

With no explanation as to how she'd managed to recover, most were willing to just take it with stride and move on, today was too bad a day to question these things.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

Saitama reached around inside his suit and pulled out a small, now somewhat crinkled "Get Well Soon!" card he had tucked away. Since he had an opportunity to give it to her now while no one was talking, he calmly walked up and greeted her normally before handing her the card.

"A card...From a B-Class…"

"Wasn't really sure who I was getting it for, I was kind of expecting a big scary guy tp be number two rather than a kid, sorry about the design."

Saitama scratched the back of his head, to him it was a real screwup to grab the card with a football design when the patient in question was seemingly a little girl. His concern however didn't match the one held by the other heroes around him, once again he'd referred to her as a child and this time to her face, they should have said something before.

Most lower class heroes were too afraid to casually walk up to one of them like that but he'd just gone and done it without even considering the consequences, his little blunder would likely land him through a wall and into the street below. Tatsumaki was very self conscious about her size, pretty much everyone including other S-Class had found themselves being flung across rooms and down city blocks for making the mistake of calling her a kid, it was easy to imagine that Saitama would be lucky to not end up in the hospital himself after what he'd said. To everyone's surprise, the outcome couldn't have been more different.

"That's fine, I'm happy to get this. Thank you."

She didn't even react to his comment, and she was actually grateful to receive something from someone else. Fubuki suddenly thought her sister may have hit her head a little too hard after landing.

"Welp Genos, since everything worked out we should get going, I'm thinking Udon tonight."

"Yes sensei, I'll prepare it myself."

"Oh hey, since you're feeling better why don't you come with us? The first thing I'd want after leaving the hospital is to get something to eat."

Fubuki waved her hands and shook her head, Saitama was lucky to get away with the last thing he'd said to her unscathed, he should just walk away while he still had the chance.

"Sure, I'd love to. Although I'll have to get changed out of this embarrassing little costume first."

Again, she said something completely unexpected.

"Sister, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yes?"

They stared at each other again for a long while. Fubuki couldn't believe her sister was accepting an invitation such as this, the same sister who was convinced that friends were a liability and that trust was a handicap. The irritable girl she knew so well was acting strangely, too strangely for her to ignore.

"You aren't acting like yourself, accepting invites from others is just...It's never something you would do."

Tatsumaki took a moment to think about her sister's words. It was true that before she would never have even considered the Baldy's request, in fact she would probably mock him for even asking her to begin with, so why was she so okay with it now? Well it was less like she was okay with it and more like she just wasn't against it, it was free food, who could pass that up?

"It's an invitation for food provided by a host, turning it down would be rude."

"Sis...You do a lot of rude things."

The truth was a bit harsh, but she felt it needed to be said nonetheless. As her sister, Fubuki felt it necessary to point out Tatsumaki's strange behavior even if it offended her.

"I guess you're right, at the moment however Udon sounds pretty great so I'd rather go along with it this one time."

Her voice had no real emotion behind it and her thoughts kept trailing back to the food. It was as if she couldn't care less about her sister's concerns and only wanted to eat and move on, Fubuki didn't know if she should scold her sister for ignoring the issue or hold her back and try to figure out why exactly she was acting this way. She was used to her sister ignoring her point of view on just about everything but...Now she didn't even know what to say.

"Well, I'm not sure we could make enough Udon for all of you unless we eat out."

Saitama suddenly felt the slightest concern at having to pay for everyone to eat, that would just be way too much money. Luckily for him, this was not the case.

"That's...Alright, I got stuff to do anyway."

Darkshine dismissed Saitama's offer and began to walk away, he like everyone else was confused about Tatsumaki's behavior but chalked it up to head injury, pushing any further into her emotions was both reckless and unprofessional. With him leading by example, most of the other heroes also began to make excuses and depart one by one. By the time they were all done leaving, the only ones left were Tatsumaki, Saitama, Fubuki, Genos, Bang and King.

"Sensei, there are only six of us, and we have enough to accomodate ten if need be."

"Oh good, guess that means you guys can come over then!"

Saitama, feeling rather excited to get home and start eating turned his back to the group and began to walk with Genos in tow. It was no too long before King began to walk too and Tatsumaki behind him, leaving Bang and Fubuki.

"It would seem she has undergone some changes."

Bang looked towards Fubuki, very aware of her concern.

"I don't know what's happened to her, she just seems...Not herself."

"Indeed, I can feel it as well. I wouldn't be too concerned though, if she has opened up and become a bit more friendly then I believe that is a good step in the right direction."

With his words of encouragement out, Bang also began to go forward to catch up with the group leaving them behind.

"Sis...What's happened to you?"

First the emotional transitions...It's only the beginning


	3. Tension

Exaggerated scenes woo

Please Enjoy

Everyone in the room was silent, the only real sound came from Tatsumaki's eating. After the hospital visit came the rather awkward time spent watching Tatsumaki eat nearly everything in Saitama's apartment to the owner's dismay. It wasn't particularly suspicious but it was at the very least a bit disturbing. Saitama didn't enjoy having most of his food taken away like that but at least it was a one time thing, or so he hoped.

"I was hoping to have leftovers, your parents should have taught you about moderation…"

"Whatever you say, Caped Baldy."

The bulging nerve was clearly visible on his shining head. They'd been back and forth like this the entire time but at this point no one was worried about the the two breaking out into a fight, the only thing worth watching carefully was just how much Tatsumaki was eating.

Getting out of the hospital and having a big appetite was excusable but she must've eaten her own bodyweight in food by now, not including any snacks she just so happened to purchase on the way there. Normally her lack of eating was one of the traits many assumed to be the reason for her small size, she did after all prefer to eat sweets and other small things she considered tasty rather than full meals.

"Fubuki, you haven't eaten yet."

Fubuki sat up straight, her sister addressing her so suddenly was a surprise. Since they'd left the hospital she just couldn't stop worrying about the changes she'd seen in her sister, even if they seemed to be beneficial in some way. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, she wasn't the only one but by now they'd all learned not to question Tatsumaki of all people.

"I ate earlier, I'm not very hungry."

Without delay the bowl in front of her floated off the table and made its way towards the tiny esper, taking on a signature green hue as it went.

"It's been a long day, her appetite is understandable…"

Bang's attempt to give a reasonable explanation was met with more silence, a trend that stayed until Tatsumaki finally finished off whatever was left. No one else got the chance to have seconds.

"I'm still kinda hungry...Guess I'll stop by another place on the way home."

 _She still isn't done?!_ The thought crossed all their minds at once, she was like a bottomless pit.

"Sis, don't you think you've had enough already?"

Tatsumaki turned to look at her once more, Fubuki knew she'd stepped out of line. The sisters cared deeply for one another, although an outsider wouldn't be able to tell at all. Tatsumaki urged Fubuki to break away from the trust and friendship she built up "For her own good" and Fubuki, having put up with it almost all her life held her sister in very high regard but at the same time developed what could almost be considered to be a bit of an inferiority complex, you could even say it was why she enjoyed being leader of such a large portion of the B-Class heroes so much.

For Fubuki, saying something like that would definitely get a reaction out of her sister but that was exactly what she was hoping for. A lecture, angry yelling, disappointed sighing, a snarky side comment, a whiny complaint, something, anything that sounded like her sister.

"I guess so...Maybe it's just straight to bed then."

She got up and headed for the door, Fubuki stood in her way, couldn't allow that. Sitting quietly and watching Tatsumaki act so differently put her on edge, not to mention the insatiable hunger.

"Why are you acting this way? Did something happen to you on the battlefield we didn't know about?"

She was quickly reaching her breaking point, the paranoia building up inside her would push her to say rather harsh things.

"It was just a bit of a concussion, Fubuki. If anything you're the one acting strange, did I say something to offend you?"

"You always say something to offend me, that's the problem! Now you go off and almost die and come back a totally different person! You don't harass me, you don't care about your own health and you eat enough to feed an entire family, don't you think I'd find that a bit worrying?"

The tension in the room raised dramatically, even Saitama felt a bit on edge watching the two sisters argue, mostly because he imagined what would happen to his poor home should their words turn into actions. Feeling the atmosphere shift in an unhealthy way, King thought to stand up and announce his departure.

"I should get home now, I have important obligations to fulfill."

By obligations, he meant video games. King felt that around Saitama he might have been able to act a bit more like himself but with other S-Class heroes in room and the intense atmosphere before him he'd just about hit his limit of acting tough for the day. Best to retreat now before he got pulled into something unnecessary, and that's exactly what he did.

"Perhaps it is best we all go home and get some sleep, today was quite stressful."

It was Bang's turn to speak up, like Saitama he knew the disaster that could befall the entire city should these two lose their composure.

"I did not know I was being insensitive, at the time I just wanted to eat."

"Stop talking like that, stop talking like some emotionless doll. I've spent years dealing with the meddling girl who interferes in almost everything I do, having her just up and pretend nothing matters is laughable. My sister wouldn't act this way, my sister is a rude, antisocial brat who gets mad over almost every little detail and can't even see that she's the reason for her own problems, nothing like whatever...You are…"

Her speech began to slow, she hadn't meant to say all of that. While it was true for the most part, Fubuki only stood up to her sister when she saw it as necessary, she'd never snapped at her like that before. As adults problems and arguments such as this weren't as big an issue anymore, in fact the two hardly spoke at all in their daily lives, that's just how life was at this point. But she began to stop her rant not just out of the realization of what was coming out of her mouth but also the effect it seemingly had on Tatsumaki.

The look on Tatsumaki's face was both concerning and terrifying. For a moment it seemed filled with a blind rage, like she would pop like a balloon and just snap at her sister, the usual Tatsumaki. But then her face contorted in an unnatural way, brows furrowed and a deep frown showing her discontent. The speed at which the look came on her face was somewhat startling but it was just as quickly replaced by yet another look, her eyes widening to an unnatural size and her mouth open, as if she'd realized something important. Fubuki was unused to her sister making anything but an annoyed visage and so the rapidly changing expressions caught her off guard, enough that Tatsumaki needed to be the one to break the silence between them.

Tatsumaki went from nearly losing it to deflating back to that uncaring expression yet again. She looked as though she would explode, to unearth whatever aggression she'd been holding back all this time. Fubuki could almost hear the angry rant that she would need to endure, but it never came.

"I understand. Then don't allow me to hold you back any further, you can make your own decisions."

Those lines weren't the bratty yelling she'd hoped to hear, in fact they were the exact opposite. Rather than an insensitive comment from a hotheaded little girl she received subtle resignation from a seemingly mature woman, like a mother who gave up on trying to reason with her child. Fubuki ended up being the one who felt like the child and the comedically small girl in front of her actually looked like an older sister, the whole situation was just...Unnatural.

"Sensei, I think it would be best if you said something."

"Who me?"

"Genos might be right, I think you'd be able to break the two up."

Both Bang and Genos were out of their element, one being too young for any real experience with women and the other feeling that he was a bit too old to try involving himself in a conversation between two young ladies.

"I mean I've never really had a girlfriend so I don't know what to tell them to calm them down."

Both men were in shock, only Saitama could say something like that so casually, and only he would try to settle them down anyway after making such a claim.

"You two are acting pretty grumpy and it's getting late, you should go home and sleep."

A very blunt statement, he didn't even try to sugarcoat it.

"You're right, I'm feeling pretty tired. Thanks for the food, Caped Baldy."

"It's Saitama, and you ate pretty much everything so I have to go the store tomorrow."

"Okay Saitama the Caped Baldy."

"Just Saitama, did you even hear what I said?"

"Yeah yeah, if it's that much then I can cover the expenses."

"Whoa, seriously!?"

An S-Class pulled in a pretty high salary compared to a mere B-Class, Saitama was more than happy to accept the offer.

"Sensei's methods...Are far more effective than I thought they'd be."

"I won't deny the results."

Well to be fair he only managed to convince Tatsumaki of anything, Fubuki was still sitting there in a quiet shock. Was she honestly supposed to just be okay with her sister's change in behavior? Sure she was acting like a better sister now than she'd ever been before but it just didn't feel right to accept her that way, it wasn't the sister she'd grown to hold in such high esteem. If that weren't enough she was deciding to make up for her own mistake through an act of generosity, it just didn't seem like her sister at all.

"I'll swing by tomorrow morning then, if you don't get up then I'll just leave."

"Wait wait, just how early do you plan on showing up?"

No, it just didn't seem right at all, this person, this creature that was supposed to be her sister was anything but. Fubuki clenched her fist, she was at a loss for what to do. Everyone else saw just how strangely she was acting, Bang especially should have known very well what her sister was like but when the two made eye contact he simply shrugged as if he didn't see a problem with it.

It was times like this when she hated the difference in power between herself and her sister, no matter how much she disagreed with the situation she was still the weakest one in the room, nothing she did would make the circumstances any better. Understanding that the gravity of the situation was far beyond her control, she opened the door and left without another word.

"Oh my, it appears she's not feeling too well about this."

Feeling that she'd made a grave mistake Tatsumaki took the time to go after her, leaving the three men to themselves.

"Saitama, you planned to go out with her tomorrow morning didn't you?"

"Well when you say it like that someone might misunderstand the situation, but yeah."

"Then I'd like to ask you this as a favor, please keep a close eye on her. The two of you have not been around long enough to understand why Tatsumaki's behavior is so questionable and it would be dangerous to leave things as they are."

Saitama didn't really understand what he meant, from his perspective she seemed pretty nice as long as you ignored the name calling and hid your food well.

"Um...Ok."

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Fubuki hadn't gotten very far, she knew she wouldn't,. No matter how fast she flew she'd never been able to run from her sister before, it was only a matter of time before she tracked her down, it was nice to see that at least that much was still true.

"Fubuki."

She didn't respond right away, instead she kept her back turned as she continued to stare forward.

"This seems like a cliche scene from a dumb movie, why don't we talk normally?"

Still no answer, Tatsumaki decided to use telepathy. It didn't work out so well.

"You're still horribly bad at that."

"You weren't responding."

Fubuki turned to face her sister, little signs like that were proof that she was still dealing with the same old Tatsumaki who just so happened to inexplicably become a different person in just a day.

"Tatsumaki...Why are you acting so strangely? It's as if I'm not even talking to my sister anymore."

"Actually I was serious about just being hungry and tired, then you went and said you were concerned about my health."

"You aren't just hungry and tired, I've seen you when you get that way and it's not pretty."

"Is it pretty now?"

"You're missing the point."

Fubuki sighed, she just didn't have the patience to deal with this anymore. No one seemed to be worried about Tatsumaki, not even Tatsumaki herself.

"I give up too...Please just try not to get hurt anymore?"

"What do you mean anymore?"

Fubuki was already walking away by this point and Tatsumaki didn't have the willpower to stop her, maybe there was something wrong with her after all. This was the first time Fubuki would get away with walking away from her sister like this, the realization of this came a bit too late.

Finally beginning to realize what her sister meant would take its toll on Tatsumaki, the old her would have never even accepted going over to B-Classes apartment in a nearly completely abandoned part of town for dinner, she wouldn't have even considered it. Now she would be going shopping with that same B-Class tomorrow morning and paying for it all herself.

"I must be...Really tired, either that or those doctors put some kind of drug in me."

The thought didn't even scare her, she could easily imagine the idiots pumping her full of painkillers or something and it didn't even phase her. Her own indifference itself was cause for slight concern. Well whatever happened to her couldn't last longer than a day or so anyway right? She could just sleep it off, with a little luck she would be right as rain tomorrow morning. In just a moment she was in the air and soaring towards home, oblivious to the one who'd been watching her since she landed.

"Man, wasn't that just a hell of a surprise?"

A spiky haired martial artist made himself visible in the moonlight.

"Came looking for the old man and I see the Tornado of Terror out for a midnight stroll? I don't think I can take her just yet, but it shouldn't take too many hunts before I can."

A Sly grin came to his face, another monster was now on the move and his name was Garou.

I think "sister" is my most used word in this chapter.


	4. Realization

Even more exaggerated scenes and over the top plot development woo

Please Enjoy

Tatsumaki stared at the ceiling of her bedroom quietly, last night hadn't been the best experience for her. Fighting with Fubuki like that while being uncharacteristically patient with others wore on her mind, she knew that her sister's concern was justified and that her own behavior was the thing in question. Because things had gone so roughly she'd hoped that a good night's sleep would help her settle her mind and tackle the next day with a clean slate, unfortunately things did not go so smoothly.

She was unable to sleep, not due to stress or anxiety but just because she was inexplicably wide awake. After taking a shower and changing into her pajamas she spent almost two hours simply staring at the ceiling, after that she'd made multiple stops to the kitchen, bathroom and even went outside for a bit to collect her thoughts but that did nothing for her inability to sleep, she just wasn't tired.

The only explanation she could think of for this occurrence was the hours she spent unconscious in the hospital along with any drugs that had been administered to her, the combination of which could likely throw her sleep schedule way out of proportion. With that excuse in mind she'd decided it was for the best not to force herself and just wait.

The hours passed very slowly. By the time daylight began to peek through her windows she'd lost all motivation to even move from her bed despite being wide awake, if it weren't for her obligation to go grocery shopping with Saitama she might've stayed in bed all day. And thus with a sour face she pulled herself from the sheets and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, it would be a long day.

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Saitama wasn't a morning person, most of the time he shrugged off getting up in the morning but today was special, a once in a lifetime opportunity in fact. Most people would assume this to be spending his morning with one of the most powerful heroes on the planet but no, to him it was even more special than that.

Free groceries, what a wonderful day. If he wasn't paying for them himself then that opened a gateway of possibilities, he wasn't so much a jerk that he would pick out the most expensive things available but he could at least get both better quality and quantity, he felt just the slightest bit of excitement, this was almost as great as finding an opponent worthy of his strength. Yep, Saitama was quite the oddball by this point.

Because Tatsumaki claimed to be coming by rather early he made sure to be up by dawn, making sure no chances would be taken. His dedication was odd but Genos saw it as inspiring, certain that a lesson could be taken out of it in some way. By the time Tatsumaki actually came around his senses were so focused that he'd opened the door milliseconds after she'd knocked, leaving her wide-eyed and confused.

"Oh hey, you aren't as early as I expected."

"...Did you expect me to come by at the crack of dawn or something?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure when you get up."

"What kind of...Nevermind."

It would be best to ignore the exchange in the doorway, the longer she stuck around the more likely she was to be spotted around here by someone. This section of Z-City was largely uninhabited but it would be just her luck to run into some random person while not disguised, it would become an even bigger issue than she thought. She had a bit of casual clothing she could have worn but she was pretty used to wearing her current attire just about every day, besides if she dressed casually then there would likely be even more people who automatically assumed her to be a child.

"That's an interesting hoodie you have there."

"Eh, I've had it awhile so I just threw it on."

Saitama didn't get that the suggestive design of his hoodie was offensive to a lady like herself, mostly because he still thought of her as a kid. Well for better or worse these two decided to set out on their journey, being seen in public with a weird bald man might have been an issue to Tatsumaki before but she just couldn't bring herself to care now. Needless to say, the walk there was the most awkward she'd ever had in her life.

Most civilians they passed by stopped to stare at them as they went, others took pictures or even went as far as to follow them. It's a good thing Tatsumaki was known for her sour attitude or else they might have been swamped with fans asking for an autograph or something, this wasn't much better but at least no one would impede their progress. The media frenzy that would come from this event would be a headache for her later.

"Oh there it is, just across the street."

The two came up to the crosswalk and waited for their chance to walk but there was no use in that, people were stopped on the road to let them pass.

"That's dangerous but awfully nice, you must be like a celebrity."

She didn't answer that, it should have been obvious that she was similar to a celebrity but she personally felt that the treatment was more like creepy stalking than privileged entitlement. At the very least they were able to get to the store relatively easily, the journey was halfway over already. Once Saitama was satisfied with whatever it was he'd have her purchase then she could leave him to handle himself and leave, it'd be cruel to let him have to deal with the questioning and attention that would surely come afterwards but he was a B-Class, being seen with an S-Class may serve to better his reputation.

The store itself was no different from the outside, everyone stopped to just watch them go by and do what they will. An S-Class in Z-City was a bit of a rare occasion, if anything people would hope to see Silver Fang or possibly even the Demon Cyborg, not the Tornado of Terror.

"Please hurry up, this is getting uncomfortable."

"This one's better quality but this one is on sale…"

"You're not even paying for it, just put them both in the basket and move on, please."

She would be just pushing him through the store at this point if it weren't so awkward to do anything other than walk calmly, her options were limited to sitting there and listening to Saitama rant on and on about what the best deals were when he wasn't even the one paying, if it were her she'd just toss whatever looked fine into a basket and move on.

"There...That's the best one."

"Are you done yet?"

"Well I was hoping to look through a few more aisles first but I think we got just about everything."

"Good, lets get in line then."

Is what normal people would have done but an S-Class celebrity didn't need to wait in lines, everyone else let them past immediately.

"Or not."

At least she could get out of this situation faster, the last she needed was for a plot twist to come by and make her life any harder.

Lol.

This marked the second time Saitama had his grocery shopping interrupted by a mysterious being, last time it was a giant created by his madman of an older brother, now he may have to deal with this problem yet again. At this point there were terrified people evacuating the streets as per emergency protocol.

With the sudden reactions of the people outside, others inside the establishment began to overreact as well, immediately looking towards the two heroes who'd been the center of their attention for the past hour.

"Baldy."

"Saitama."

"Caped Baldy, the people are beginning to panic due to an apparent monster sighting."

"Oh darn, I forgot the kombu again."

She'd lost his attention just like that, really it was a bit of a pain dealing with this man, his indifference was just too much to handle. If this was the kind of behavior that worried Fubuki she could clearly understand why, he would be her polar opposite in every aspect under normal circumstances.

"Okay 'Saitama'."

"Oh, you got it right."

"The people are panicking over a monster sighting. Because you're so worried about your food, I'll go handle it."

"Are you sure you should go alone?"

One thing about her that was still intact was her pride, and his doubt offended her.

"You just take this and pay for your groceries, I'll eradicate the monster while you loaf around."

"Oh wow, that looks nice."

Saitama took the silver card and stared at it for a bit. He was happy to receive such a thing if only for a little while, although he did wonder where she had been keeping it considering her dress had no pockets and he couldn't tell if she was wearing anything underneath, best not to think about that right now. This was the moment of truth and some random monster wouldn't spoil it, the terrified clerk behind the counter would just have to ignore the panic in the background just as he did.

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"There is no need for assistance, I'll take down the threat alone."

"There are several A-Class in the area who could assist, miss Tatsumaki."

"They will get in the way, don't waste time sending them."

"...Yes ma'am."

She closed her phone. Getting to the center of the problem didn't take very long with how fast Tatsumaki could fly, if she wanted she could clear the entire city in seconds, all she needed to do was go the direction people were running from and the monster was found rather easily.

The being in question was out of the ordinary even by monster standards. Most monsters, especially those of humanoid shape often had a single quality that stood out among anything else, be it size, shape, or even the addition of extra appendages such as tentacles, there was always something that was off but that was an understatement for this thing. It was literally decorated in individuality.

This was the demon class mysterious being, Face Ripper, someone who did not belong here and yet made his debut early. As the name implied he collected the faces of his victims and absolutely enjoyed doing it, so much so that he used his collected trophies as a suit, effectively decorating himself with other people. The weapons used to do his heinous crimes were two abnormally large cleavers, weapons he didn't bother hiding and used to point at the new arrival.

"Hoho, what's this? It seems the rumors were true after all, then this should not take long."

Tatsumaki landed, the monster in front of her was someone she would consider to be smallfry, not normally worth her attention at all.

"So the Tornado of Terror did survive after all, that means I have a chance at being rewarded handsomely for your cooperation."

She raised an eyebrow, cooperating with a monster was not something she would even consider but there was no reason to not at least hear him out before eradicating him.

"Since you survived our little attack before, the association decided that someone else needed to be sent out to check whether or not we could pull you along."

"Association? There's only one association that I know of."

"Of course there is, you heroes are too wrapped up in your glitter and fame to pay attention to what's right in front of you."

His voice was annoying, she never did enjoy having to listen to those who loved to hear themselves talk.

"And you think you'll gain my cooperation because you know something I don't?"

"Oh I know you will, it might take awhile but eventually you'll realize that you have no other options."

"I'm getting sick of your banter."

"Calm down girl, I'm getting to the good part. It's a shame that the monsterfication wasn't immediate but it was just an experimental weapon after all, the good for nothing they used to make it couldn't even amount to being a decent gun."

He cackled to himself quietly for a bit, she held out her hand and pushed him down the street with enough force to tear him apart. But he was unharmed. Instead he held his two blades in an X shape in front of him, whatever they were made of it as enough to protect him from the force she put behind that blast.

"Ha...That attack wasn't bad. No, that attack would have killed me if I didn't react to it, you really are on an entirely higher level than those poor A-Class from before."

Hey eye twitched, she was about to attack again.

"Even if it takes awhile you shouldn't be afraid, becoming one of us is just so liberating."

"Whatever you're trying to tell me is a waste of time."

"Oh? And what will you do when you're the one in my situation against all of your so-called colleagues?"

"Don't compare me to yourself, you're too far beneath me to even consider such a thing."

"I see you're even more stubborn than they say, then why don't we skip the small talk and cut to the chase. I wasn't supposed to reveal my existence to the world just yet, not until we attacked but that Gyoro just needed to play his little games. Our king, the Monster King wants you to join the Monster Association."

She needed more than a second to process that.

"What kind of nonsense are you trying to spout."

"Come on now, the changes can't be so slow that you're completely oblivious to what's going on, it's been at least a full day since you were infected."

She closed the distance almost immediately, now hovering just a few feet in front of him.

"I was unconscious from a surprise attack but was left with no injury."

"Heh, you almost died, pumpkin. It's a miracle the monster cells kicked in when they did."

That sentence stunned her for the moment ripper needed to break off into a mad dash, he wasn't just some lackey and there was no way he'd take the chance at being crushed by her again. Getting away unscathed would be impossible but making negotiations would be easier if he got a bit of leverage, his grin somehow managed to get even wider.

Tatsumaki now both a bit too interested in what that monster had said flew off after him, he couldn't get far, it's not as if he had too many places to hide, it took all of thirty seconds to find him again.

"You have more to tell me, what do mean monster cells."

He didn't reply immediately, his back was turned to her and he was hunched forward. When he turned there was a child in his grasp, his knife firmly placed against her chin.

"So sad wouldn't you say? Such a cute face contorted in such a way, really it's astounding how a mother can lose her child in the confusion of little old me making a ruckus."

And here was another classic move, the villain taking a hostage to prevent the hero from making the final move.

"You see we could have done this a lot easier if you just listened, I told you everything you need to know already."

Tatsumaki was silent, still staring at the girl.

"You see, once you have all the pieces it shouldn't be too hard to put the puzzle together. Honestly I think you're a bit less scary than King but it's a win nonetheless, whether or not we have the world's strongest man or the world's strongest esper on our side makes no difference."

Tatsumaki was still quietly staring.

"So you see, if you choose to join us now you can spare the pain of being held responsible for the death of just one girl. A bit of heartlessness should make the transformation a lot smoother and I'm certain the two of us could destroy this city and escape without much resistance from your little friends."

She slowly gazed back up towards the Ripper. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving, as if she'd already made her choice and turned her back on the humanity she was protecting. Honestly it was a bit chilling to see even for a demon class monster.

"You're already showing such good signs...Why don't we just call it a deal and start with this little one?"

She looked towards him quietly for a few moments longer, winning her over would be a grandiose achievement for him, it was the only reason he'd even risked sticking his neck out for this job. Unfortunately Tatsumaki could care less for his proposition...Or his hostage.

She swiped her hand. She blew away everything in front of her.

The destruction was at the very least limited to the area in front of her, and there were no civilians in sight but that didn't excuse the destruction she'd caused to eliminate this threat. She hadn't hesitated as long as he thought she would, all that was left was to wait for the dust to settle.

When it did, all she saw was a man in a ruined shirt and jeans.

"Dang...I lost everything."

Saitama had arrived at literally the last second.

Everything he was holding exploded along with that monster, everything but the little girl he was firmly standing over that is. The same could not be said for his hard earned groceries which exploded outwards on impact. As if on queue a loaf of bread landed on Tatsumaki's head.

"Hey are you crazy? You almost hurt this little girl!"

She was just staring at him confusedly, the speed he must've needed to get there faster than she could see him was insane to imagine. And it came from a B-Class baldy.

"Are you listening? If you're worried about the card I still have it but that's not important right now."

"You were able to protect her."

"Well yeah, that's what heroes do. You could've killed her if I didn't show up before you blasted that monster away."

"She was…"

In her mind Tatsumaki had come to a very rash decision. The life of an innocent girl was precious, but that monster was an insufferable brute who'd taken many lives and might have taken many more if she didn't kill him here and now. Logically it would make sense to sacrifice one for the majority but this wasn't a logical scenario. He called her a monster and in response she would have killed both him and an innocent child in her hostility.

And then there was what he said overlapping with Fubuki's own words. She almost died, that was the point made to her twice now. She almost died. And now she was making decisions she would never have made before. She could have easily crushed that monster's head or shielded the girl, she had many more options and instead she chose the efficient route of killing both the monster and the witness to what he'd said regardless of who she was. She would have ended the life of a child to keep her silent.

Monster cells, her absurd recovery from the brink of death, her appetite, inability to sleep, and even her loss of feeling. As the ripper said if you put the pieces together then it made sense, it would have been obvious to anyone who knew exactly what had happened to her. She was losing her humanity, it was as clear as day.

Unable to stand being there any longer she took off in a random direction, the reality coming down on her was a bit too much to handle at the moment and she was the only one who knew the truth of what she was becoming.

She was becoming a monster.

Lots of stuff happened this time, it was going too slow before and I only write so many words per chapter.


	5. Terrified

Writing is hard, help me get better

Please Enjoy

"I see, it seems Face Ripper was in over his head after all."

Gyoro Gyoro sat back in his chair, failure to recruit Tatsumaki into their ranks was expected, she was an S-Class hero after all.

"Excuse me, isn't that kind of a bad thing? She has knowledge of us to hand to the Hero Association."

"Don't worry about that, all that matters is she knows who we are and that we know what's happening to her."

That was true, Tatsumaki wouldn't take the chance of ratting them out now, not while she was dealing with her own crisis. Regardless of just how much she was against the idea of joining them, there were still very few options for her to choose from and time would not be on her side in this endeavor.

Monsterficiation was a very fickle process, for most it would only take a matter of hours but for others it could take months or even years. Garou was one such case of a human whose potential monsterficiation would take place over a long period of time due to his inability to completely leave his humanity behind, that being said they had no real indication of just how quickly Tatsumaki would change or just how severe said changes would be.

Factors such as general health and emotional stability could either hinder or significantly speed up the process, only time would tell just how long she could hang on. Having one of the association's strongest heroes on their side would be quite a boon but Gyoro wasn't ready to have his spot as top psychic replaced just yet, life would be easier for him if he were to subdue his other little project first.

"For now we'll focus on that upstart, Garou. The Tornado may be a valuable asset but Garou is a monster king in the making, we must keep a close eye on him at all times."

For a second one his lackeys let out a snicker, Gyoro didn't realize he'd unintentionally made an eye pun.

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Tatsumaki peeked out from under her sheets, today marked the eighth day without sleep and yet she still felt not even the slightest bit of fatigue. In the days following her revelation she'd locked herself in her home to prevent anyone from having to see her change into a hideous creature, to her utter surprise the process was far slower than she could have imagined.

Mysterious beings should have been very obvious from the outside, grotesque and clearly inhuman in one way or another, these were the traits she expected to see. Every morning she checked her body for any new features, be it fangs, claws, a tail, even a change in eye color but found mostly nothing. Her sudden splurge on food allowed her to gain a few pounds and on top of that she was a few centimeters taller but that was negligible, to the average onlooker she hadn't changed much at all.

She didn't know how to handle this fact, for awhile she honestly expected to just sprout wings or something out of nowhere but the longer she thought about it the more ridiculous it sounded. She thought becoming a monster would be far more spontaneous than this, most people who turned down this path did nothing but rant about their newfound power and stature after all. If everything she was told was true then she should have gained more than just a slight shift in her height and weight. She may not have known it but her emotions were the trigger, just sitting around in her home all day did little more than prevent her from changing in any noticeable way.

"That damn face monster...Because of him this situation got so much worse…"

Part of her really wanted to just stay down and forget anything she'd heard, pretend that everything was okay and just move on. That was a quitter's mentality though, she wouldn't give in to it, even if she was slowly losing her will to do much of anything.

Feeling unmotivated, she dragged herself out of bed for what felt like the hundredth time in the past week and went to check herself in the mirror. Again she found no changes aside from her nails having grown out a bit longer than before, nothing that couldn't be fixed with a pair of nail clippers. Being uncertain of her own biology was far too inconvenient, if she was changing in some way then she would have preferred it to just happen already instead of keeping her in suspense like this.

"Great...I'm about all out of time now too."

She was annoyed now, it was too late to try covering up any small changes in her appearance. This day in particular had come too fast, the day in which she would be forced to return to A-City in person. The association originally planned to rebuild the city over a ten year period, plenty of time to think of ways to cover up her little affliction without anyone getting in her business, that plan now however had been dismantled right before her eyes. Metal Knight had gone and done it in a week, a city sized impenetrable fortress in just seven days.

Never could she have imagined that the time frame could be cut so drastically, if that weren't bad enough the association wanted all standing S and A-Class heroes to relocate to the city immediately. The problem here was obvious, she would be living in a very populated environment while still expecting to suddenly evolve into some terrifying creature.

This would take away quite a bit of her privacy, no longer could she just order food to her room all day without attracting suspicion or go out for fresh air away from prying eyes. The safest thing to do would be to decline and keep to herself but then she'd be no different from Blast, which would already be more than enough to attract unnecessary attention to herself.

"Huh. That's a name I haven't thought about in awhile."

The number one hero, the same one to save her from those scientists all those years ago, normally there wouldn't be a day that went by in which she didn't think about seeing him again. Now she couldn't help but wonder how he'd react to a situation like this, if he didn't show his face often enough now then they'd probably never see him again if he went and became a monster. For a moment she considered taking a page from his book and just hiding herself away from society for awhile, but only for a moment .

That strategy might have worked for her if all her colleagues hadn't been worried enough to show up to the hospital for her. That was already awkward enough without first losing the trust of her younger sister before going on a shopping trip with a bald B-class normie, who in his last minute intervention also received the credit for defeating a demon class monster and saving a small child...Now he was A class too, meaning she'd also be living in close proximity to him in the near future. A child's babbling could be explained away rather easily, but if Saitama went and told everyone exactly what he saw then it would be all over, her career, her credibility, even her safety, all compromised.

What was a tiny esper to do? The only sensible option would be to approach Saitama directly and make sure he kept his mouth shut, but she'd likely only make things worse for herself. Honestly the only thing that gave her hope was the fact that Saitama clearly kept quiet about what he saw, a sign that he was not so willing to just throw her under the bus. That alone told her that he didn't care himself or he simply didn't understand what happened, either way it was a chance to make sure he could keep a secret.

"I have to go visit him...All the way in Z-City before he moves."

An arduous task considering she didn't know if he'd already packed up, meaning she'd be wasting massive amounts of time flying there to check and coming back should she be too late. It was times like this when she regretted not getting along with anyone, phone numbers would be useful without her having to drag herself halfway around the country.

"If I call Fubuki, maybe she has his number…That's assuming she's even willing to talk to me."

If she got desperate enough she could simply call the association and ask about him, although that would be a horrible idea for obvious reasons.

"Why do you have to live all the way in Z-City...It's the literally the last one on the list, the complete other side from A…Then again, Silver Fang's dojo is over there too."

She closed her eyes and laid back on her bed, she'd just have to take a chance and wait near the association for his arrival, no point in making herself look desperate by going all the way to his home a week after the incident.

"If I have to head back to the association, I might as well check in with the other S-Class to be sure they aren't as suspicious as Fubuki...If I fly it'll take about-"

She'd been planning the course for her departure in her head while she spoke to herself, mapping out a destination so she could arrive as soon as possible, while it would be simplest to just fly in a straight line she also didn't want to use her powers unnecessarily lest she accidentally put someone else's life in danger again. She was so focused on the thought in fact that she didn't notice herself levitating slowly off of her bed, a green glow encompassing the room around her.

Her thoughts on how to reach A-City without bringing attention to herself were all she thought about, to get there as quickly and as quietly as possible with no room for others to prepare for her arrival. Flying through the air was not as optimal as it may have seemed, like Genos demonstrated in the past it was very easy to detect fast incoming heat signatures and there were men and women who spent their days staring at computers just for that. She even considered hiring a taxi like a normal person. The method didn't matter, as long as she reached the place without raising an alarm everything would be fine.

And just like that, she vanished. The only thing that tipped her off about it was the sudden change in temperature, the difference between a cozy apartment and the air around the gargantuan building that she now found herself floating next to was drastic.

Orienting herself upright, she stared wide eyed at the world in front of her and held her breath. The average person's reaction might have been to scream or flail immediately, however she could only stare for a moment as she processed what was happening. Above her was a beautiful blue sky, to her left a few buildings, below her the sound of rushing cars.

"Did I just...Fly outside?"

That thought was quickly disproven, the scenery was far different from what your average city could offer. The large, pyramid like structure in front of her was far too different from any semblance of average human society. The question was no longer where she was but how she got there.

At top speed Tatsumaki could have made the trip several times quicker than any conventional means of travel, in just a few short minutes in fact, although moving that fast was dangerous in its own way and she often avoided it. Moving fast was one thing but she was just kind of here now, had she zoned out and just started flying subconsciously? No, that was kind of ridiculous to imagine.

Outside of flying there were only a few other ways she could have possibly made this trip at the speed she'd just exhibited, either she'd grossly underestimated just what she could be capable of doing subconsciously or...

Teleportation, a form of instantaneous movement, if that was what she'd done then it sure raised a red flag. Teleportation was a nifty little trick, one that she'd seen plenty of others try to abuse in the past but she herself had never been able to use the ability. There were of course other espers capable of doing it but it was often one of their only redeeming qualities, the kind of thing they would normally use to pass themselves off as magicians by escaping impossible circumstances with "magic". Tatsumaki however never personally had much talent for these things, a fact that was apparent through her failure to use telepathy accurately, yet another useful trick.

Tatsumaki's main power came from psychokinesis, the sheer force she could put behind it was a horrifying threat on it's own, enough that she could form a natural disaster on a whim, hence her hero name. It was definitely a powerful tool, but that pretty much made up ninety percent of what she could do. So how did she suddenly throw herself such an abnormally long distance accidentally? There was no clear answer, all she did was think about making the trip and it just sort of happened. Her own confusion prevented her from so much as even keep herself completely afloat, leaving her to slowly descend to the ground.

"Ah Miss Tatsumaki!"

A lady in uniform made her way over immediately upon noticing her, by the time she got within ten feet of Tatsumaki however she soon regretted her previous enthusiasm.

Tatsumaki slowly turned her head to gaze at the one who called out her name, the look on her face from her confusion gave the association employee goosebumps. One could tell when Tatsumaki was about to lose her temper by subtle hints such as a faint green outline or her body language when she crossed her arms or furrowed her brow, and look on her face was not one you'd expect her to make just from hearing her name called.

Just as Fubuki had seen before, her eyes were unnaturally wide from the shock with her lips slightly parted. Just a glance into those eyes made the woman nauseous, the combination of worry and fear hitting her so suddenly was almost too much to handle.

"I didn't mean to bother you ma'am, I just thought you'd need help with…"

The awkward staring went on for a little while longer before Tatsumaki seemingly pieced what was going on and turned to face her completely, having understood the gravity of her situation.

"I need to head up and talk to Sitch, is he around?"

"Er...Yes ma'am, he should be there."

"Thanks."

Tatsumaki wasted no time leaving the stunned girl behind, there were more important things to worry about. A quick elevator ride to the top would make things easy, especially since anyone who happened to see her in the elevator thought it best to wait for the next one rather than take the chance of upsetting her.

"So if I really can use that ability now…"

The thought was somewhat exciting, even those who specialized in teleportation often couldn't go very far and those who could weren't able to do so in rapid succession. If she could suddenly start closing distances like that even quicker than she could before then she might have had an excuse to avoid living in this city, there'd be no need for "quick deployment" if she could be anywhere she wanted instantaneously, all she would need was a bit of practice.

The elevator cut her thoughts short with a loud ding, the door was opening for yet another person before she could reach her destination. She took a deep breath as the doors opened, the figure of Tanktop Master coming into view. He was as big and intimidating as usual, except this time he was drenched in sweat.

"Oh hey Tornado, it's good to see you're alright."

His greeting was quick and to the point, no real need for a reply. He simply made his way into the elevator and stood across from her, pressing the key for a floor as he went. The silence between the two was awkward, but that's what elevator rides were for notorious for anyway.

"Did you just get done exercising or something?"

She didn't honestly care for his answer but the least she could after he expressed his concern for her wellbeing was pretend to take an interest in his actions.

"Yeah, you actually inspired me to put in even more effort than I ever have before."

"I did?"

Certainly a surprise, she never saw herself as an inspiration for anyone but Fubuki and it was clear that that didn't pan out so well.

"When I saw you doing a million times more to that ship than I could do alone it really made me realize just how strong psychic power is, I have to train even harder if I ever want to compete with it."

"In the end though you could always do more as a person than I ever could."

"Yeah, I get that but your power won't necessarily deteriorate if you decide to take time off and relax."

A jab at her power despite her comparatively leisurely lifestyle, not surprising in the slightest.

"I got lucky to be born with it, but that alone only goes so far. Not having to work as hard on the outside is a perk but I wouldn't put too much attention on it."

He didn't answer immediately, a man who spent at least twelve hours a day in the gym would definitley be a bit hurt to know he was still far weaker than a girl a third his size.

"I don't think it's a bad thing, I just want to know I can handle the pressure if I ever need to."

"Pressure? I doubt there would ever be a single enemy who could handle my power."

"That's exactly the problem, little green. I won't question your resolve as a hero but you've done some scary things in the past, even if you're a hundred percent on our side that telekinesis is still a threat."

His worry was justified, the strongest of powers was to be both praised and feared equally, there was no reason to blindly believe she would be on their side forever. Unbeknownst to Tanktop however, his words gave the esper a rather rude awakening.

Tatsumaki was indeed in a situation where her power could be a threat, not just to him but to all of humanity. She was always so confident in herself, only now did she realize just how big of a danger she was should that confidence get out of hand, she would definitley be a dragon level threat at minimum.

If she were to turn, how many would perish before they stopped her? Could they even stop her? She'd taken her slow monsterfication in stride and as a result unintentionally slowed down the process, this blow to her personal view of herself however only served to speed it right back up.

"Well that was only something I was thinking about before, anyway I ought to go make sure my brothers are working hard. Take care of yourself, Tornado."

Tanktop walked up to the door, relieved to get an opinion of his chest without being forced into a wall, even Tatsumaki wasn't crazy enough to go making a ruckus like that inside an elevator.

This level of communication was important among colleagues but Tatsumaki was still a bit immature and might take what he said to heart, he knew it would be best to let it end there and put up with her whiny complaints later if necessary. He didn't make it that far. When the door opened he couldn't move a muscle, instead he was stuck there staring at the corridor ahead of him, unable to even make a sound.

"You have a point Tanktop...Then if you don't mind, I'd like to hear your opinion on something else."

That voice was enough to send chills up his spine, panic was not something he felt often but this was more than enough to give it to him. He needed to get out of the elevator now, every instinct he had screamed for him to run without looking back but his body wouldn't move.

He took a deep breath as the elevator doors closed in front of him, he was stuck with the monster again.

I'm not sure about the anime but Tanktop does indeed strive harder to beat both psychic power and machine power after Boros' attack.


	6. Revelation

MORE DRAMA

Please Enjoy

"From shady surgeon to top doc in just a week, I don't know if this is a miracle or a curse."

Stitches let out a sigh as he looked up toward the association headquarters, deep thoughts overcoming him as headed inside. He never considered himself to be the best in his field, honestly he was satisfied just getting the opportunity to operate on such rare specimens as the heroes who found themselves in his care. Operating on the Tornado of Terror herself, however left more severe repercussions than he could have guessed.

The details of Tatsumaki's injury were kept hidden from the general public, an obvious clue that her condition was critical, why else would the association try to keep the entire thing private? Well that was the topic of discussion following Boros' attack on A-city, a whirlwind of drama that encapsulated pretty much every television show, radio station and social media website. The number two hero was down and possibly dying while the association tried to cover everything up, a leading rumor that nearly everyone believed but didn't even stand for twenty four hours. Tatsumaki was spotted the very next day on a leisurely stroll through Z-City with a virtually unknown B-Class.

The media storm left in the wake of this confusing turn of events gave the doctor more attention than he could handle, he'd become the scapegoat for her amazing recovery, a hero among heroes so to speak. No amount of shady dealing would help him now, he was backed into a corner and the association was sure to take full advantage of it. He had nowhere to go but into the palms of their hands.

For the sake of confidentiality he would be relocated to A-City along with the other top heroes and become their private physician, in exchange he would not only reclaim his privacy but also receive numerous personal benefits most of which revolved around money and the freedom to experiment with some of his more "unethical" practices.

These terms were considered more than fair and for a mad doctor it would be a dream come true under normal circumstances, yet...He felt a tinge of dissatisfaction. The success he was receiving credit for was not rightfully earned, even now as he considered the outlandish recovery of the little esper there was no plausible explanation he could come up with.

From his experience he knew that any sort of healing factor, assuming the already overpowered esper had one should have taken effect immediately after the damage was done, long before she was brought in for treatment. He could assume the healing was delayed similar to Zombieman's but that would be a stretch at best, Zombieman was already a medical mystery for another day and he still didn't have the evidence to prove she even had such a power. With no other clues to go on his best assumption was that the spontaneous recovery had to have been from an outside source, the problem being that the weapon which delivered the blow left no evidence of any such circumstance other than the wound itself.

The torn flesh in her upper back definitely indicated the use of a high caliber round but upon further investigation there was no shell or even a fragment to be spotted, no remnants of what could be considered a bullet even though that was clearly what should have made such damage possible. What could make a bullet wound that wasn't a bullet? He sure didn't know and neither did anyone else who was in the room with him, furthermore if such a powerful armament was used then why didn't it go straight through her? Tatsumaki was of small frame, a round of that caliber should have torn all the way through the front of her chest, yet the damage fell off before even making it that far. The shot drilled in but stopped abruptly almost as if it'd evaporated midway through.

In the end his "surgery" ended up being little more than a glorified ballistics test and the result had been yielded as inconclusive. If only he'd gotten a good look at the one responsible or even just the weapon they'd used, it was a key piece of evidence that he didn't have access to. As a doctor he was overjoyed to have had the chance to work in such conditions but as a scientist he was completely frustrated, there were too many questions and he didn't even have a solid lead.

To think that the association had the power to keep such details secret, what use was there in hiding enemy weaponry from those who would be tasked with treating the wounds it caused? It was a point he would argue if he had the audacity to speak out about it but for now he was too focused on trying to figure everything out himself, the situation was hopelessly confusing but he wasn't willing to give up on it, not when it'd affected his life this drastically.

He'd mulled over the details over and over since that day, hours of sleep lost to his curiosity, meals substituted for coffee and the occasional snack. He looked enough like a health hazard already and the horrible habits he'd indulged in this past week only served to make him appear even more outwardly menacing than before, like a sheltered sociopath ready to be unleashed upon the world. No one in their right mind would approach him as he was, no one but the hero for fun and his disciple.

"You sure that's the same guy, Genos?"

The poor doctor almost had a heart attack.

"Yes, sensei. He is undoubtedly the man who operated on the Tornado of Terror."

Getting caught up in his thoughts left him completely oblivious to the men walking up behind him, enough so that Stitches immediately stuck his hand in his coat, ready for a battle, even if he was a noncombatant he could at least handle a few thugs if he needed to. Luckily he recognized the pair from the hospital visit or else he might have already made the dangerous decision of attacking, although an action like that would have ended far worse for him than he could have imagined. Pulling his hand from his coat he stood straight up and eyed his new guests cautiously.

"Do you have business with me, gentlemen?"

He made sure to remain polite in his statement, an S-Class along with the man he referred to so respectfully was a dangerous combination to be sure.

"I don't know yet…"

Saitama's answer only made him more weary of the situation.

"Please excuse us, Doctor. Sensei hadn't yet fulfilled his weekly quota before ascending to A-Class and was looking for any suspicious characters, as a result we ended up following y-"

Saitama jumped at the statement and cut off his companion, a clear giveaway to how guilty he was. It was bad enough that he'd almost made the mistake of confronting the doctor directly, now Genos was basically insulting him to his face.

"Sensei…?"

He needed a moment to process the Demon Cyborg himself calling a random bald man that.

"Ok, well...Suspicious characters, eh? Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't guilty of that…"

A moment of silence passed over the three, Saitama really was quite talented at creating awkward situations.

"Well regardless of the reason, I'm more surprised you expected to find anyone like that just standing around inside the association headquarters. Wouldn't that be the last place to search?"

Genos' gaze was unflinching, only Saitama seemed to realize the fatal flaw in his plans. Running into Sonic beforehand was a stroke of luck but this situation was entirely different from then, expecting history to repeat itself was naive on his part and he'd only just realized it. Defeated, he let out a deep sigh and covered his face.

Seeing Saitama's reaction, Stitches realized that the entire confrontation could likely be labeled as a misunderstanding and sought to end it as soon as possible.

"Well um...I wish you two luck with your manhunt."

He whipped around ready to leave the men behind and was instantly knocked down by someone else passing by, a monster of a man who could easily send a toothpick like him flying effortlessly.

"That guy is pretty big…"

"That is S-Class hero Tanktop Master, sensei."

"Tanktop? Why are there so many of those guys walking around, weren't there two others the day that I took out that meteor…You're telling me one of those guys is in S-Class?"

Completely recovering from his previous self loathing instantly, Saitama was already stuck on the topic of the new man who'd so callously knocked Stitches to the floor and kept moving without so much as helping him up.

"He looked like he was in a hurry too, there a monster nearby or something?"

"No, not that I'm aware of."

The rambling between the duo didn't concern the doctor in the slightest, in fact he was too concentrated on the face he saw Tanktop making as he passed by. He was looking towards the ground, eyes wide and sweat dripping down his face, the kind of look most would assume came from an intense workout session but the doctor knew better. That look was not one formed from the effort he'd put in during a simple workout, it was one of fear. Fear on the face of man who would stand before an army with nothing but a tanktop and his own bravado, nothing good could possibly come out of that.

What could make Tanktop act that way? Perhaps he'd been demoted to A-Class? No, not only was something like that unlikely but a man like him would only see that as a sign to continue improving himself rather than sulk about it. Trusting his gut the doctor rushed down the hallway without hesitation, if he were fast enough he might have been able to catch sight of what transpired.

Of the many things he'd expected to see, Tatsumaki was not one of them.

For a man so outwardly intimidating one would assume that he'd run up against a problem he couldn't solve with his muscles, an embarrassing situation or perhaps a run in with King would be apt explanations. Instead he ran into the one little girl who'd been the subject of his thoughts for the past week, floating right inside the elevator Tanktop had left, drops of sweat having pooled up where he stood not so long ago. With deft movements he slipped inside before the doors could shut, leaving behind not just the two who'd accompanied him inside, but the rest of the world as well.

"Oho, just made it."

The doctor attempted to immediately contribute his actions to having been a hurry but there was no need for such a cover up, the girl beside him was not only completely confused but also caught off guard, any excuse he made probably wouldn't suffice anyway, especially when he'd taken the time to hit half the buttons on his way in.

"What are you doing?"

Her voice didn't sound inviting at all, in fact it gave him chills, as if she'd just pointed a gun at him.

"Just stopping by for a bit of business. How are you this morning, Miss Tatsumaki?"

A polite start didn't help much, he could see the disdain on her face from being called that. Having been at ground zero when she awoke from the hospital for the first time he knew very well of her volatile nature, thus her disapproving face was enough to make him nervous before she'd even responded.

"The doctor from that hospital, why are you here?"

"To follow-up on your last visit."

It wasn't technically a lie but he wanted to be direct, his first two attempts at playing the patient responsible adult were horrific failures, if he continued with the act he would get nowhere.

"All the way out here? You just assumed you would find me skulking around this place?"

"The heroes are not the only ones being relocated to the city, the odds of meeting you today without prior arrangement are much higher this way. It should also be noted that I have many more heroes to see, I just so happened to notice you standing in here."

His excuse was lame and she didn't believe it for a second but accepted it nonetheless, after getting rid of Tanktop she'd hoped to avoid any extra unnecessary conversation, it would be best to keep her questions to a minimum.

"Whatever."

The tension was still present but at least she wasn't hostile, her willingness to give up on the doc's rather questionable claims would make things so much easier. As easy as conversations with Tatsumaki could be anyway.

"You seem to be doing well, have you had any issues moving around? Soreness?"

"You're doing this in an elevator."

"Better than listening to the music if you ask me. Anyway, about that soreness."

She let out a sigh, dealing with yet another person after she just got rid of the muscle head was just too annoying.

"No."

"Anything unusual at all?"

"No."

No hesitation, no faltering in her voice, just a cold stare. By this point she was expecting him to give up and move on but the doctor persisted, more questions about her diet and exercise habits followed suite rather than the silence she'd hoped for. In her eyes his words were meaningless and amounted to little more than what a pediatrician would ask a child during their annual checkup, the truth behind his little quiz however was a bit more deceptive.

Being an expert was about more than simply fixing a problem, a true professional would not only treat a wound or cure a disease, there was also the issue of making sure said problem wouldn't come back or even preventing it to begin with. Many health conditions have underlying causes that may not seem apparent at first glance, this was why he needed to be thorough. Not every symptom was coincidence and not every injury was an accident, abuse, depression, fatigue, disease, there was a sign for it all and he'd become very good at detecting these things. Such skill didn't really serve him well this time though, all he had to do was watch her.

Tatsumaki had clearly changed compared to the last time he'd seen her, and the closer he looked the worse it got. She was noticeably pale, a shade that wasn't by any means worse than the three different shades present on his own face but still more than enough to prompt concern. Her arms were folded but he could still see three sharp, almost claw-like nails protruding from her fingertips, did she file her nails to be that way? Even her hair was unnatural, the emerald curves having become more hectic than he remembered, even the smooth parts having sprung up unnaturally far as if she were having a bad hair day.

The list went on, more and more red flags being tossed up the longer he stared. Eventually the questions began to slow, his own concern overshadowing his curiosity.

"Are you done?"

She turned and looked at him, doing her best to convey her annoyance but it didn't help much.

"Far from it actually, your injury was far too close of a call for you to just brush it off like nothing happened."

"Close of a call? There's not even a scratch left."

"That's exactly why it's so concerning."

Tatsumaki took in a deep breath, hearing this same story time and time again was starting to get to her. Beforehand most people completely avoided her and she was fine with it, strange how one little accident suddenly caused this many people to feel the need to approach her unnecessarily. Why wait until now to care? Fubuki's actions could be written off as she was her sister but the rest of them were almost inexcusable, like they really did see her as a child who needed supervision. That thought alone did more than annoy her.

"You are a doctor, it's your job to be thorough and caring but...I'm going to have to ask you to stop."

"Stop?"

"Whatever happened before was a mistake on my part, I understand your point of view but there is no longer any need for you to watch over me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, like you said it's my job."

Her sudden insistence easily let him know that he was on thin ice, he was close to uncovering a certain something, the reason behind Tanktop's panic perhaps. Regardless of what it was he only needed an idea of why she could heal so rapidly, the rest he could piece together on his own. He just needed a little more to go on.

"It wasn't a suggestion."

And there it was, that lethal aura that could freeze someone dead in their tracks.

"Now calm down, I know you're still tense from your visit but-"

"I think you're severely underestimating the trouble you're about to be in."

Tatsumaki was clearly sick of talking by this point. After the nearly disastrous encounter with Tanktop she was barely keeping herself together already without this man prying into her personal life. Realizing the subtle hints for him to run weren't getting through the same way they did for Tanktop she decided to be a bit more forceful, the man would be crazy to pick a fight with her wouldn't he?

"Again, please calm down."

"Are you listening to me at all? This conversation is over."

"I really can't allow you to just walk away, it really just isn't an option for me."

He was pushing her far more than what could possibly be deemed safe but he wouldn't be Stitches if he couldn't literally patch himself up from encounters like these, at least that was the optimism he started off with. When he realized just how badly he was pissing her off...Well it was more than a surprise to see the look on her face, or in this case the look off her face.

"Get. Out."

She'd changed and he'd lost his nerve, an angry esper with magic healing powers was one thing but when her face began to form cracks and she seemed as though she was ready to outright murder him it was only sensible to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately this was not an option, being trapped inside an elevator with an esper who was clearly losing control was the same as begging to be ripped apart, his finger was jamming the button behind his back but nothing was happening, he was stuck and he could feel his own impending doom as she moved closer.

And then she stopped, for some reason or another she hesitated, he couldn't tell if it was due to her coming to her senses or possibly just his luck holding out when he needed it most but it was more than enough time for a piece to physically fall out from under her eye.

This disturbing sight shocked both of them back to reality instantly, both having to stare down at the piece lying on the ground before them. Another moment passed and Tatsumaki was panickedly holding her own face just from the shock of what she was seeing and her would be victim could only stare in abject horror and confusion. This entire scenario felt like an abstract concept from a dream, for someone who put so much time and effort into his work the explanations for what he was witnessing were few.

Either way there was one undeniable fact: The person in front of him was not human. That piece of knowledge was all he needed, in fact the gateway of possibilities flung open the moment he realized it, unexplainable occurrences suddenly made complete sense and holes in his theories began to fill themselves in. This is what Tanktop saw, this was the creature that even an S-Class would fear. The monster among them, one who exhibited powers that most of them couldn't hold a candle to. In a way he was overjoyed, but that joy didn't solve his situation.

"Tatsumaki…"

She'd been holding her face in shock but his call jostled her out of it for just a bit, for the second she looked up he could barely see past her fingers into the abyss below, this may have been the most terrifying experience he'd ever had and as quickly as it began it was gone. Tatsumaki vanished, she escaped possibly to a far away place in only an instant.

Her anger had been a trigger, it revealed things to the both of them in way that would scar them both for the rest of their lives. The doctor had what he came for and then some, even a broken sample on the floor for him to confirm everything he'd just seen. The revelations hitting him all at once was overwhelming, enough so that he paid no mind to the confused heroes waiting outside the elevator by the time it opened. With a clear conscious and a newfound inspiration he picked himself up and prepared for the consequences of his endeavor.

It's been awhile...How are you doing?


	7. Home

With season 2 around I'm ready to get back into it

Please Enjoy

The door flew open, allowing light to flood into what had been a dark, messy room, though no one stood in the doorway, or at least that's how it seemed to be. WIthin a second the door slammed itself shut and the room returned to being dark and seemingly vacant, then another door opened itself, this one leading into the bathroom. Another moment passed and the light flipped on, that's when she appeared. Tatsumaki suddenly became visible in the mirror.

In her need to escape from the hero association the esper discovered a new ability to match the effectiveness of teleportation, though any excitement on that end would have to wait, her first concern was taking a look at herself in the mirror. To her horror she would learn that her imagination was not the cause of what she'd seen in that elevator: Parts of her face had fallen out, leaving what appeared to be a dark void underneath.

Like any normal person she felt the need to scream but that didn't solve much of anything, the moment the terror hit her the void only got larger, consuming more of her face as the pieces fell into the sink. She took a moment to look away, down at the very sink she was falling into, catching her breath and coming to terms with what she'd seen. As she'd come to expect, calming down took no time at all.

She looked back up again and took in the unnatural opening in her cheek calmly, by now no one would have judged her if this was enough to make her faint, though the pressure didn't affect the little monster as much as it should have. A couple seconds was all it took for her to get over the initial shock, a little while longer and she was staring at her reflection in the mirror, the emotions peeling away until she was back to neutral, something that had become natural for her in the past few weeks. Ever since the "incident" she'd developed the habit of jumping through emotions at a speed that scared even her sister, especially since the expressions were clearly visible on her face as she made the transitions. Now rather than panicking she found herself haphazardly jabbing her finger into the dark recesses that were once her cheek, her interest having shifted toward what she was feeling rather than seeing.

A weird dark jelly, in her own words that was the only way she might have been able to describe it, a thin layer of jelly and just beyond that, her cheekbone, then...Something sharper. She paused for a moment to consider the possibilities, her number one concern was no longer the hole itself but what lied beyond it. Opening her mouth she was greeted to a row of dark teeth, sharpened like fangs. Again, she needed another thirty seconds or so to panic before she had the courage to look more closely. She'd realize once more that she wasn't just seeing things, a few of the teeth, specifically those directly through that opening had become fangs and the area around them had become darkened, almost like some sort of infection. After a good long look she once again poked her finger into the hole, hooking her finger in and giving a little tug, her skin bulging on the outside as if she were sticking her tongue into her inner cheek. Despite appearances it was practically another mouth, though the skin peeling away as well as the lack of lips made it look more like she was shot through the cheek with a gun.

She continued to play around with the empty space, testing the limits of just how far she could go without sticking her whole finger in, then she took her hand out, moved it around towards the side of her mouth and pulled it open, taking note of the darkness that seemed to coat the inside. The side without an obvious hole in it hadn't been affected which was a relief, she'd almost expected her entire mouth to look like that of a monster's.

The area of concern was limited but this was still a hard reality for Tatsumaki to comprehend, the effects of mosterfication proving to be far different than she'd first assumed they'd be. Originally she'd expected to sprout wings or turn blue or something obvious like that, then when she'd noticed her own face falling off she'd immediately allowed her imagination to jump to a wild scenario in which the skin would peel away to reveal a flaming skull or some other cliche but this wasn't at all like that conclusion. How much further could she have expected to change had that confrontation gone on any longer? What would she even look like? Not only did the current changes trump the childish idea of becoming a skeleton but it also left her with a sense of being completely lost, the sense of dread that'd been encroaching upon her before was nowhere in sight, only an uncertainty of what to do or how to feel. In the end one short conversation had backed her into a corner, an unfortunate run in with the man who happened to know her condition better than anyone else.

"That doctor…"

She clenched her fist as the memories came back, throughout this entire ordeal that sketchy man had been there watching and meddling, making him one of three people she felt the need to blame. Just a short while ago she was afraid of Saitama opening his mouth about her disregarding the life of a little girl, now due to her own recklessness she'd probably scarred Tanktop for life as well as having revealed her secret to that doctor, bringing the total of witnesses to three: Three men who'd seen too much but were also too important for her to just magically make disappear.

Disappear…? What was she thinking? Could she really get rid of someone like that? She shook those thoughts from her head, the idea of abducting someone or even murder were radical and beyond anything she'd have considered normally.

The thought of taking drastic action aside...The association probably wouldn't put the words of the other two heroes above her own which just left the doctor, who'd supposedly had time to operate on her and would thus have an opinion that likely wouldn't be overlooked, he was after all a trusted physician with confidential information. If he ratted her out then it would bring trouble ten times worse than what she was already dealing with, she could already see what kind of choices she'd have to make just to avoid the attention. That disgusting face monster with the swords had already given her an ultimatum: Without the association supporting her she'd either have to turn to monsterkind for help or go into hiding, both of which were options she didn't even want to consider, she'd sooner kill...

A dark line flickered in her vision as her thoughts took a dark turn for the second time, this new interruption cutting off said thoughts and bringing her attention back to the mirror in front of her. Her hair was standing on end as if she were about to use her powers, the tips having turned an unsightly dark color rather than their usual emerald tint. This too was another revelation but Tatsumaki was more concerned with what would happen if she didn't stop herself immediately so she bit her lip, sinking her new fangs right into the skin and forcing herself to calm down and reign in her psychic power before her lack of control caused an accident.

Her hair relaxed, going back into its usual shape and regaining its lost color. Noticing this change she took a moment to steady her breathing and take a seat on the floor by the bathtub. A bit of calming down went a long way, though not enough to make her worries nor the hole in her face magically vanish like she wish some people would, there was still the matter of deciding what move to make next, going out in public was a bad idea for obvious reasons but as was sitting around waiting for the trouble to come find her. Normally she'd charge right into the trouble and take it apart by force but that was clearly a waste of time, at that point it would probably be better for her to just disappear before a fuss could be made in the first place…

Disappear...Again that word made its way into her head, it almost began to feel like the issue wouldn't be resolved unless someone was removed from the equation, which of course brought someone else to mind.

"I think I understand you a bit better now Blast…"

A familiar name rang out as the esper spoke to herself, her somewhat depressing solution bringing back the familiar situation of the number one hero. How many times had that man come to her mind when she dealt with something problematic? He was the inspiration for her having become a hero after all, and with that ambition now on the line she couldn't help but give in to that old habit once more.

Like most she often wondered what could have caused his disappearance and where he could have possibly gone, now her plight opened her eyes to new possibilities. Outside of a terrible incident the cause for a sudden retirement could have easily been something like what she was dealing with now, a problem he refused to show the rest of the world...Or maybe the more pessimistic individuals were right in believing that Blast simply didn't feel that he was needed. Whatever the case Tatsumaki could now at the very least respect someone's decision to just want to vanish, though she seriously doubted humanity would survive if both it's top heroes decided to take a vacation. Not like she had many places to up and run away to anyway...Even if she could find a place to simply hideout there was still no telling when the frustration would cause her to do something dangerous. If getting a little upset was more than enough to cause this much trouble then it'd become imperative for her to learn some self control for once or else she'd be digging those fangs into her lip again just to avoid causing a natural disaster.

As that thought came to mind she put her fingers to the area where those teeth dug in, realizing that she no longer felt any pain from that spot. She soon realized an absence of pain was a very real concern as the cut she expected to find didn't even exist.

Odd, she'd expected to at least leave a mark with that bite.

She popped up off the floor and took a good look at herself once more, in particular her gaze settled upon the wound that should've been left from her reckless chomp to calm herself down, but there was nothing there, nothing but a stream of dark blood that had taken its place at the corner of her lips. Her next few movements were the obvious ones: Putting her fingers to the little evidence there was to her having been injured and then looking at her hand in silent bewilderment. Black seemed to be the theme of her transformation but there was a difference between having black hair and having black blood, which was a completely internal change.

She waited in silence for a few moments before rushing out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Within only a few moments she'd pulled a knife out of a drawer, a new thought overtaking the previous interest in her face. Was the rest of her body just like that? If she were to have surgery done on her right this moment would there be nothing but a dark membrane in place of blood and organs? It was an extremely important bit of information and a scary thing to consider, if it turned out to be true then it would explain why she hadn't seen any outside changes from the monsterfication until now, that it could have possibly been entirely internal, laying dormant until such an opportunity arose in which she would lose control.

The thought alone was enough to give her shivers, she needed the truth right away...Though it would be quite difficult to obtain as she found herself hesitating, even a serious shift in personality didn't make the tornado any less against the idea of self harm. While she hated to admit it and you wouldn't be able to tell with how mercilessly she ripped apart monsters she was squeamish to this sort of thing, she couldn't even stand needles let alone a knife.

A moment passed in silence as she continued to stare down at what she was doing, her anxiety growing more and more the longer she waited. In the end she resorted to using a single finger rather than her entire hand, accidentally losing a finger was a lot less scary than the thought of losing her whole hand, a delusion caused by her growing anxiety.

She pressed down on the knife carefully and took a deep breath before tugging it lightly to the side.

Instinctively her first reaction was to let out a hiss at the sharp pain, the kind of sound one would expect from a child who'd just cut their finger or scraped their knee, followed shortly by cradling the afflicted area as if it were about to fall off. Regret was the first and foremost of the things that came to the esper's mind, followed by anger and then of course resignation. Upset as something this small could make her there was no time to think about it, these next few moments could answer the number one question on her mind.

Or maybe more than just a few moments...There was nothing evident in her actions aside from a small split in the skin. Had the cut been too shallow? Already she began to dread the possibility of having to do that again, if so it might have not been worth it to try at all. She squeezed the tip of her finger, hoping to force out the sign that she was looking for. A small dot appeared to contrast her pale skin.

Red. A red drop oozed out from her finger and instantly an entirely new feeling washed over her, an awkward combination of confusion and relief. Her theory had been debunked right then, the rest of her body probably wasn't as hollow as the side of her face currently was and probably not oozing some odd black substance, even if the things she'd found so far were game changing she could at the very least still bleed like a normal person. Actually, now that she thought about it, the mortal wound she'd apparently received was also not visible on her body, meaning that now had some form of healing or something similar.

"Hmm…"

She put the cut finger in her mouth, being careful to avoid the sharpened fangs. In one way she wanted to feel a bit proud of having been bestowed such useful abilities and in another way she was feeling ashamed of the childish reaction she had to a small cut when other S-Class heroes like Zombieman could get ripped apart for fun and come back like nothing happened, though thinking too much on that would get her off track. Her pressing thoughts were once again halted as she mused over a few ideas in silence, the amount of issues that piled up in front of her had reached an all time high: She needed a way to keep her identity safe which meant that she needed to once again confront the others who had an idea of what she was becoming, especially Stitches, then she wanted to find a way to revert the changes that had taken place if possible and if not find a way to hide them effectively so she wouldn't have to give up as a hero, there was no way anyone would pass up on the opportunity to uncover the truth if things got that far.

It was then that another convenient twist would throw itself her way, because of course there was no way for her to run from this by just heading home. The doorbell rang and again she found herself panicked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Genos are you sure this is the right way?"

"Yes sensei, I've thoroughly looked through the records and have determined the information to be accurate."

Saitama had begun moving away from A-City, having actually decided to spend a bit of money to take a bus in order to clear the distance ahead of them. After the crazy doctor had run off Saitama's interest in doing hero work was then lost after being informed that he didn't need to simply look for petty criminals as much as he needed to before as a lower ranking hero. Punching a random sword monster and being promoted to A-Class was quite a boon despite how angry it made Fubuki, now rather than taking a look at the new fortress city he was on the move to settle another issue on his mind.

"You keep talking like that and you'll become a full robot."

The caped baldy let out the sarcastic remark without much care, asking Genos to use less words led to the Cyborg using bigger words to compensate for the shorter space, he would have been much happier if his accomplice just said "Yes".

"I am sorry, though I am curious as to why you'd suddenly take an interest in the Tornado of Terror, your previous interactions with her didn't seem to leave you in the best of moods."

It was true, Saitama didn't get along with the brat one bit and would rather avoid her if he could, especially if it were a matter of food, though this time couldn't be helped. He had to see her again and to get his point across he reached into his belt and whipped out a gleaming silver card.

"Remember she offered to pay for groceries but then she ran off without taking this back. Not gonna lie, using a girl's money doesn't feel too good...Though it all got ruined anyway and I'm not gonna just take advantage of that situation to get more out of her, plus I don't want to forget I have this and keep it with me too long, she probably needs it for herself."

"That is truly virtuous, sensei."

He'd gotten used to Genos treating him like some sort of sage for advice but he hardly saw any of what he was doing as virtuous, he'd accepted an offer and circumstances prevented him from returning something that didn't belong to him.

"Speaking of which, since we know where she lives we can probably get there before she inevitably tries ordering food or something right?"

His optimism was short lived.

"Actually sensei, Tatsumaki is capable of flying even faster than the fastest of aircraft, she could travel between cities in a matter of minutes if she felt the need to, assuming she wasn't already home from your last interaction."

The look on Saitama's face after that revelation gave away how nervous he'd suddenly become, he could only imagine how mad that girl could be, there was even the chance that she'd ask for some form of payback herself.

"Sensei are you alright?"

Genos tried to speak confidently but found that effort to be futile, in just a moment he found himself yelling after Saitama who'd calmly opened the window and jumped out of it like a madman, forcing the Demon Cyborg to consider blowing open part of the vehicle just to go after him. Before he could consider that though a huge cloud of dust popped into the air beside the vehicle, frightening everyone on board.

In his rush to close the distance quicker Saitama decided to break out one of his greatest escape methods: The Serious Sprint. Entire miles would be covered in just a few seconds, the journey across the country would take little more than a minute and a half, a new road being engraved into the earth as he made his way forward, and once he entered the city wind from his movement blew away any litter that had found itself in the streets, even the leaves and petals from nearby plantlife were thrust from their places and thrown into the air. No one who was around had even the slightest idea of what had just happened, some even looked to the sky, expecting to see yet another alien ship descending upon them.

With the address memorized and his objective clear Saitama found himself at his destination before Genos could even get off the public transport, now hoping to act cool and confident before he took the risk of upsetting the Tornado.

He rung the doorbell.

A brief wait went by, he could feel the uneasy aura on the other side of the door and took a moment to look around. It was a very nice complex, probably ten times more expensive than his own residence. For a moment he even considered the possibility of making someone else late for their own rent, a thought that would give him guilt far beyond making someone miss a few meals, he really should have turned down her offer, shouldn't he?

He stuck his finger out towards the button again, debating whether or not it was even a smart decision to stick around and not just leave the card in front of the door or something. He wouldn't have the opportunity to do that though. The door cracked open slightly.

"Hey, it's me, Saitama? Came by to give this back."

He tried to find an angle to make the card visible without being able to see the person on the other side of the door and caught glimpse of something strange. The glare he received almost made him ready to be thrown through several buildings. Then the door opened fully, revealing a normal looking Tatsumaki, without any singular emotion visible on her face.

"Caped Baldy."

"I'm not-"

He stopped himself there, not wanting to agitate her anymore than he probably already had.

"Anyway, this. You forgot to take this back after you flew off when we killed that monster."

He waved the card somewhat enthusiastically but she continued to stare at him, only making him more uncomfortable.

"So...You can just have this back…"

She continued to stare, and he felt as though he should run away before it was too late.

"So…"

He set the card on her head, hoping the playful gesture would be more than enough to prevent a violent reaction.

"Thanks, I totally forgot about it."

Finally she responded, breaking the tension and giving Saitama relief, he wasn't about to be attacked by her just yet.

"Nice, then I guess I should head home with Gen-"

The Caped Baldy cut himself off for the second time, having finally realized that he'd left Genos in the dust.

"Or wait for him since he's not here yet…"

"Your Robot friend?"

"Yeah...We were both heading here but I got here first so…I might just wait out here."

The silence between the two became awkward rather than tense.

"If he's coming here then I guess you can wait inside?"

Inviting someone in wasn't something she'd ever consider but no matter how badly she wanted to slam the door in his face she didn't want to risk him having an ill-opinion of her with what he'd seen, she had to be courteous.

"Oh cool...Um, I'm assuming you were cooking since you have that knife?"

Her eyes widened, she was keeping that hand behind the door, how did he know she had a knife?

"Yes...I was but I guess since I have company I'd rather order a pizza."

Saitama really didn't want to be around longer than he needed to but who would turn down free pizza? Certainly not him.

"Wow...The S-Class really are like regular people aren't they? I always kind of assumed your popularity made you eat out at a five star restaurant every night or something."

She didn't respond to that, instead she waited in silence for a bit before realizing that he was waiting and moved over, allowing him to enter.

"Your friend is already on his way isn't he?"

"Yep, I'll just take a seat here and hope he's quick."

"Good...We might have time to talk about that monster we killed."

The door slammed shut and the tiny monster's gaze settled on the baldy walking further in. With a little luck she was hoping to scare him into keeping his mouth shut just like Tanktop.

I still think Season 1 was better, but beggars can't be choosers.


	8. Guest

Finally back to a regular schedule, which means regular updates once again.

Please Enjoy

"Place looks pretty neat, like brand new."

Saitama attempted to break the awkward silence that settled in after taking a seat by voicing his thoughts on the empty looking apartment around him. A lack of personal belongings wasn't too weird for him since he never had much to personalize his own home but even that didn't look this plain, it was as if tatsumaki had just moved in.

"No dust either...How do you reach the windows?"

And just as he initiated a conversation he managed to instantly throw it away by spouting an insensitive comment, a blunder he realized he made only after he looked towards his host and saw he was being stared at.

 _Why did I just say that…_

His thoughts echoed as he tried to think of something else to say, he wasn't normally so rude to people but when it came to Tatsumaki he couldn't help but be extremely blunt, else he might not have been able to have a normal conversation with her at all. Then again, could anyone really have a "normal" conversation with her?

"How did you figure out where I lived?"

She cut straight to the chase on a more important matter however, ignoring the unintentional jab at her height. On any other day she might have given him a more punishing glare or harsh insult, but this sort of reaction was vastly different from that and certainly not what the baldy expected though he took it in stride, being sure to speak a bit more cautiously this time to avoid the same mistake.

"Uh...Genos told me, I think he got the address from the HQ."

"Is that so…"

Already she'd become annoyed, Saitama's surprise visit was already bad enough, she didn't appreciate how easy it was for her information to be leaked to a lower class hero just because he knew other S-Classes. Truth be told Tatsumaki often refused giving out residential information, partly because she never stayed in one place long enough to have a permanent residence and also because she didn't want any stalkers coming to visit her. For regular contact she normally received a phone call, and thus she believed that to be the only connection the association needed, it was good to know that they not only kept tabs on her but were also willing to just hand out her information.

"So 'Genos'...He's the Demon Cyborg that everybody keeps yelling about at the association right? The robot with fire blasts and for some reason lives with you and calls you his master."

A perfect description for the cyborg, one that made Saitama a bit uncomfortable, unlike the esper his concerns had to deal with the embarrassment of Genos's overzealous behavior towards him.

"...Yeah, that's him...I'd rather not talk about our living situation, it's nothing weird and his enthusiasm is totally one-sided, I swear."

Saitama let out a sigh after that statement, hoping that the esper didn't see the hero and his disciple as anything more than roommates, though Tatsumaki worries were still far beyond what he was thinking.

"So after you...Helped take down that monster I'm assuming you went back home and told him the full story."

That statement was supposed to sound threatening but Saitama was too dense to pick up on it.

"Eh, kinda. I told him I lost the bags and killed a guy but it was just another monster, nothing to really get excited about."

She tilted her head slightly at his response, favoring one side over the other, she was still recovering from the little mishap that occurred before he showed up.

"That's it? Just another monster?"

"Yeah, he wasn't really special was he? Not more than that alien guy anyway. I think his name was...Boron? Barren?"

Tatsumaki took a second to stare at him whilst he played guessing games, confused at just how nonchalant he was being towards a serious talk. It was clear that she would have to be more assertive in order to get the answer she was looking for. The hero-for-fun had proved to be extremely indifferent about such matters in the past but that was no reason to assume he wasn't just playing dumb to avoid the topic.

"You know there was also a hostage whom we...You saved."

She tried to make it sound obvious but Saitama still needed time of his own to think about her statement, looking up at the ceiling and putting a hand to his chin as if the very idea had slipped his mind entirely. If this were an act then it wasn't believable at all.

"You're right...I actually made my first fan because of that, which is pretty nice. Oh, I even got a cute little drawing, really makes me feel like a hero."

You couldn't tell by his blank expression but that little bit of information actually made Saitama a bit excited.

"A fan, huh?"

"Yeah."

He still appeared to be unfazed, Tatsumaki couldn't help but lean towards the accusation of him playing dumb.

"You needed time to think about the first fan you've made in your career as a professional hero?"

"Well actually I was kind of doing this before I even knew there was a hero association, so it's not the first kid I've saved, just the first one who's made anything for me. Also it's been a long while since I started, back then it was more of a hobby than a career. Still is honestly."

That was a lie, it had to be. She refused to believe he'd been hiding away doing hero work without ever being noticed, not with what he could do. With her own two eyes the esper had seen just how fast he could move, sure super speed wasn't that big of a deal but he'd also survived being blown away by her when he rescued the girl in question, meaning he had to be either really resilient or at the very least able to resist her powers somehow.

 _Actually, now that I think about it, he also made friends with Silverfang somehow didn't he…? Are they somehow related?_

The esper's thoughts suddenly took an awkward turn, this conversation had brought to her attention that she was still unaware of Saitama's origin. Most hero's had a story of some kind, a tale of trials and tribulations, a story of surpassing one's limits, even the classic science experiment gone wrong, but Saitama told them that he just kinda started training one day some years ago. Maybe he just had some natural unseen power just like King or Blast...But he wasn't a particularly interesting guy, how'd he gain the trust of her sister along with the other S-Class, including a newbie who referred to him as a master?

She had been under the impression that no one else knew him until they met in that meeting room before the invasion, there shouldn't have been much time for him to make friends. She could easily assume that he was a lot more threatening than he looked but given the fact that he came out of nowhere and just so happened to live in some proximity to Silverfang's dojo meant that he must have been part of the reason why that city was still habitable at all, especially with the increasing monster appearance rates. So just who was he? What did the others know about this random individual and even more importantly why hadn't she taken some time to think about all of this before letting him into her home?

"It was really hard finding her mom though, so I had to take her to a police station, they seemed pretty happy to take her off my hands."

Saitama had been rambling on the whole time but a mention of a police station snapped Tatsumaki out of her thoughts.

"Police station?"

"You've never been to one?"

Honestly she was more worried about the possibility of an interrogation of any kind that would put the story of her heartless behavior on an official record, not their optimism in escorting a little girl home.

"Not that, what did you tell them about the girl and the situation?"

"That she was a hostage for a dead monster."

Annoying answer that wasn't a full answer.

"Details. Please."

What was left of Saitama's expression went from nonchalant to confused.

"It's a police station. What else am I supposed to tell them?"

He still didn't seem to care, and again she didn't know what to think of his behavior, he was clearly much smarter than he showed on the outside but at the same time she couldn't begin to judge his character. It would have been terrifying to consider the possibility of someone like him pulling strings from the background. Yes, it always came back to the doubt, the doubt she had in herself and everyone she spoke to, it was the only definite feeling she got anymore, that and anxiety over the other trivial things she could've prevented if she were more careful.

"So then the picture. Did she just happen to draw it for you while you were there?"

"Nah, it came in the mail."

"...Came in the mail?"

"Yeah, don't you get things like that all the time? Genos is pretty new and he has a whole mountain of cards and stuff."

The esper didn't respond immediately, not because she was self conscious about the lack of fanmail she received but because it was so easy for a potential witness to just send things to the heroes they admired, enough so that even a little girl could do it. It really was a good thing that she didn't let her address go public.

"Then you'll have to show me some time...Um...To commemorate the event."

She spoke quietly, not knowing how she could phrase her thoughts in a way that wouldn't make her seem suspicious. This whole situation was sketchy and she was running out of ideas on how to talk to this man without losing her mind. Luckily Saitama didn't suspect the strangeness of the request at all.

"I actually still have it with me, I never took it out of my pocket."

A stroke of luck. The fact that he decided to keep the paper on hand was a strange thing to hear but Tatsumaki didn't dare say anything to jeopardize him coming clean, only sit down by Saitama quietly as he searched through the few items he kept on his person until he found the cute little drawing that he'd mentioned.

"I always thought this was just a movie cliche but it's nice to feel appreciated I guess, what with all the fanmail Genos gets."

Just like the card he'd gotten the esper in the past, this little decoration was also crumpled up like trash, showing that he'd shoved the entire thing in his pocket without at least having the decency to fold it up. Knowing Saitama he'd probably put it there on a whim after seeing it's contents, either that or he was secretly keeping it on purpose while making sure it looked like nothing more than wasted paper.

 _But then why would he show it to me? Maybe he thought I already knew he had it?_

The longer the two spoke to one another the more unstable the esper became, almost everything Saiatama had to say made her prepared to fight him, maybe even take it a step further...It was ironic that Saitama truly felt he was just having a casual conversation with an acquaintance, completely unaware of the mental hoops the esper was throwing herself through.

Her scary thoughts aside the crude drawing hidden inside the mess of balled up paper was exactly what one would expect out of a child's drawing, people with boxes for bodies, smiley faces and nothing more than lines to show appendages and hair...Well hair for all except the one that was clearly meant to be Saitama. He was drawn as a huge figure towering over the rest and standing over a little girl with the words "Me" and "Hero" written to the side and arrows pointing to the respective figures. It was a nice little doodle, the kind of thing a proud father would hang on the fridge.

For a moment Tatsumaki felt relieved, it was just a cute piece of artwork after all.

"Oh there's also this part."

But Saitama ruined that feeling soon after by unfolding the rest of the paper, showing two more figures: A lumpy pink thing with X's for eyes and another person with a few green lines for hair, a feature that was all too easy to identify. Both creatures wore a frown and held the label of "Monsters", a classification that made the esper hold her breath.

"I don't think she could be any older than seven so don't go around saying it was just some ordinary kid's drawing, I think this is pretty good for her age."

Saitama's first thought was to defend the quality of the drawing to prevent Tatsumaki from insulting the image or laugh at him for keeping it with him, though his attempts to do so fell on deaf ears, the esper's mind was racing to process the contents of the paper. Originally she was worried that Genos' involvement would raise the number of witnesses from three to four, now a scared little girl could raise that number all the way to five...And then there was also the reaction her parents might have had to the story she'd probably told them by now. At that point the rumor of a green-haired psychic monster could spread like wildfire.

"Monsters…"

"Huh?"

Saitama expected a snarky reply, but the girl's almost scared sounding response instead caused him to look down at the sheet confusedly, he'd initially glossed over the little detail she pointed out.

"Ah, I wouldn't get too down about that, I've been called some bad stuff before too. Maybe she was just slightly scared of your mind powers and didn't know what was going on."

Rationality was a good ally, one Saitama had let rule over his uninteresting lifestyle. The drawing was done by an innocent little girl and Tatsumaki scared even seasoned heroes with her actions, it wasn't too hard to believe that the child would lump the esper in with the other creature that held her hostage, especially after almost being blown to bits. Unfortunately the paranoia had already set in.

"Don't show that to anyone else."

"You don't think it's good?"

Tatsumaki grabbed the edge of the paper.

"I really don't want others to see it."

She tugged the edges, but Saitama kept a firm grip.

"I know she's not some kind of master artist but it's not so bad to be included in a picture even if it doesn't make you look good."

He tried to be reasonable but she didn't listen at all.

"Let go or else."

And now it really did become scary, there was no longer any subtlety, just a girl angry at a sheet of paper, or at least that's how Saitama saw it.

"Look, it's not frame worthy but I still like it, if you're worried about appearances then I can keep it to myself and not show anyone else."

Saitama was clearly skeptical of her insistence rather than scared, the opposite reaction to what would normally be expected, most people would make excuses to run from Tatsumaki on a whim but not this guy, he didn't even seem to perceive her as a threat.

"You'd keep this to yourself? You wouldn't even tell your friend, Genius?"

She had neither the reason nor the resolve to take him up on that, if she couldn't scare him as she did with Tanktop then the safest option was to use her powers to tear the paper apart...Or at least that's what she would have tried if it were possible.

The moment she even attempted to do so she was greeted with what felt like a wall, what could that have been? It didn't take long for her to realize where the resistance was coming from. She tugged harder, doing her best just to tear through the sheet, but it was almost as if her power was being blocked...Saitama was resistant...No, he was a single unit, a really...Really heavy one. Trying to tear the paper from his grasp felt no different then trying to use her regular, not so special strength. What would she even classify this as? Was this another power of his? She'd never encountered anyone or anything this hard to influence, a mountain would have been easier to move.

She struggled for a bit longer, hoping to put an end to this tug-o-war without outright uprooting the whole building in an attempt to pull just a sheet of paper from someone's hands. For a little bit she even began to feel scared, at least until she made eye contact with the bald man who's features went from out of focus and almost cartoonish-looking to serious and defined. He didn't mean any harm, he was actually just concerned about the safety of a kid's drawing of all things.

"You actually want to keep this…?"

It made no sense but what else could she say?

"Yes, normally I don't get much out of punching monsters but this might be the closest thing to a reward I've gotten for doing it since the day I decided to become a hero."

Sentimental and incredibly cheesy, that much couldn't be faked, even she knew that. Now she felt guilty for even suspecting the man in the first place and while reluctant she eventually let the sheet go, moving away slightly as she reflected on her incredibly suspicious behavior, something that by some miracle hadn't bothered her bald guest at all.

"Well...Could you keep that whole day a secret from anyone else then? I just…"

"Sure."

She looked back at him again, it was that easy? All this panic and it was as easy as asking? She couldn't believe it. A single word was enough to dash any fear she had surrounding the mysterious yet admittedly mellow person before her.

"Sorry...I'm a bit stressed right now."

She tried salvaging the conversation anyway she could and Saitama seemed all too willing to help her out.

"I'd guess so, you're at the top os S-Class and it's probably not an easy job. Also I didn't really help to ease your mind at all with the hospital visit and everything else that came after that."

How could such a bland looking person be understanding or even slightly comforting? Anyone else would have lost their nerve in front of the esper a long time ago, it wasn't often that she had the pleasure of being to one to experience guilt.

"Then your friend...He's not coming here for anything other than catching up to you?"

"Yeah, I left him in the dust, but we could stay a little while if you want. We didn't even order food yet. Actually, you'll probably order a whole bunch so it'd be a waste to leave right after he got here anyway."

Tatsumaki let out a sigh, she'd spent the past hour in nothing but fear induced paranoia, Saitama's normalcy had given her needless amounts of panic and all she had to do was ask him to keep it all a secret. She began to see why the others had begun to stick to him like magnets.

"You're actually not so bad, Saitama."

"I feel like that's a backhanded compliment."

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine."

With the calm settling back in the two simply began their wait, making small idle talk from time to time and being sure to order at least a dozen pizzas to feed the esper's ever expansive appetite. Having someone she could talk to wasn't so bad, Tatsumaki even considered the possibility of calling her sister to try apologizing and strike up a positive conversation for once but ultimately decided against it, no one needed to know she was spending her free time with the baldy.

Another day had been spent between feeling nothing and panicking over everything, at this rate Tatsumaki almost wished she could just retire or something so she could chill out like this more often without throwing the association into an uproar. Then again they would probably have that reaction anyway if they realized what had happened to her. Maybe she could have let Tanktop walk away without scarring him for life.

But on the other hand...How screwed was she if all of this was just an act? What if Saitama had planned all of this through?

She hated her inability to just accept things as they were but all the will she had to fight was practically gone at this point anyway. Besides she could just lock him in the room like she did with Tanktop until she was sure that he meant what he said, but then there was the chance that she'd lose control like she did with-

A loud gasp rang out through the air and the esper popped up from her seat.

The doctor. How could she have forgotten about him? In the excitement of trying to figure out her biology as well as Saitama dropping in for a chat she'd completely forgotten about the real threat to her safety. Someone had seen that part of her so very recently and she had yet to think of what to do. How could she be so focused and paranoid yet still forget the details to the very topic she was so invested in? Here she was trying to scare the bald guy into keeping the incident with the girl to himself and she completely lost track of what she was doing originally.

 _Disappear..._

The word swam through her mind once again, what would she even do to escape at this point? If that man had half a brain he was probably tucked safely in that fortress telling Sitch and the others what he'd witnessed. She'd cornered herself accidentally...What else could she do besides play victim or try to runaway?

It was too late to muse over that thought. she was too frozen in her own fear to do either.

When in doubt, add more drama.


	9. Relief

How old were you when you stopped trick or treating?

Please Enjoy

Saitama had once again found himself in an uncomfortable situation, this one even worse than the last. From his point of view him and Tatsumaki were finally starting to get along, then out of nowhere it was as if she started having a mental breakdown. First she'd jumped up, face showing what he could only describe as pure terror, then collapsing back into her seat, face in her hands as if she'd just witnessed a tragedy and was hiding herself from the reality of it all.

"What's wrong?"

He tried to ask her.

"See a spider? Leave something in the oven?"

Those were the only things that immediately came to his mind upon seeing her jump in horror, anything that evokes a reaction like that must've been something along those lines, right?

"Saitama…"

She peeked through her fingers, her eyes becoming visible as she spoke back to him. Those eyes had changed, he could feel something sinister behind them, it was not a glare he expected from another human, they seemed more like the eyes of a bloodthirsty predator.

"I just had a realization, Saitama."

She sounded angry, as if she were ready to strangle someone.

"I want to be alone right now, maybe you should go."

Red flags, that was all the caped baldy could see in this situation, if he didn't know any better he'd have assumed that she received horrible news like the death of a relative or some other catastrophe.

"It's not that big of a deal but…"

Now she sounded sad, for a moment Saitama thought she would cry. Leaving without an explanation was now out of the question, and he cut her out off just to make sure she was aware of that.

"I guess I could, but if something bad just happened I don't think you should deal with it alone. You can talk to me about it at least since we're friends, or maybe your sister is best."

He gave the casual good guy answer, it wasn't like him to do anything other than minding his own business but at this point he couldn't help but feel he was connected to a disaster of some kind, and that was something he didn't need weighing on his conscious after he'd come so far to return her card to her. If she really were about to cry or do something sketchy he felt that it was necessary for him to try talking to her about it first while he still had the chance.

"Friend?"

Not the point he wanted her to focus on.

"Yes, or acquaintance, whatever you wanna call me, but this is kinda serious."

She seemed perturbed at his words, overlooking his initial concern to instead think about what he'd just said. Friends? That wasn't something she ever saw herself having, as a matter of fact she often discouraged the thought of having others to rely on, she had always been sure that they were nothing but a weakness.

She mused on the thought for awhile but of course Saitama's staring pulled her attention back to the matter in question but by then all the panic and anger she had before had been completely diffused.

"It's nothing serious at all, I'm just tired."

 _Um...What?_

That answer was unbelievable. She was just tired? All of that build up for a bit of exhaustion? No, it was a lie, a very, very blatant lie and along with it yet another shift in her tone of voice. She'd gone from angry to depressed and now...To resigned maybe? It was hard to understand how she felt after sitting through what Saitama had just seen, she seemed so ready to break down just a moment ago and he was honestly expecting her to fall apart at the seams, now she was back to normal, acting as if nothing had happened. If it were anyone else but Saitama they'd have probably been up out of their seat by now and taking this far more seriously.

"...Nothing serious you say? Maybe you should at least go outside and get some fresh air then, just in case you need to clear your head."

It wasn't the best advice but what more could he say? He still didn't know what was going on and Tatsumaki seemed content with keeping it that way.

"For what? I said I was just tired, I don't want to make it worse by running around outside."

It didn't feel like an act, just an obvious lie from an otherwise normal sounding Tatsumaki.

"Well, even if you're sure nothing's wrong that was still kinda scary. I'm not sure we should just pretend nothing happened."

"And what exactly happened?"

She sounded confused, as if his reaction was the unnatural thing in question, if he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes Saitama would have probably believed that he was worried over nothing.

"Um, having a heart attack right in front of me?"

The esper tilted her head slightly.

"Uh huh, you sure you didn't just imagine that?"

And along with that innocent action came an answer that was enough to take Saitama from confused to just outright frustrated, reasoning with Tatsumaki was hard enough already but outright denying reality had to be a first. He couldn't even think of a good reply, instead he stared at her, the look on his face showing the conflicted emotions he was currently feeling. It only took a few moments for tatsumaki to realize that her comment had only worsened the issue and so she spoke up again.

"Fine. Since you're so worried I'll just take a moment to myself in the bathroom, alright? But you're overreacting."

She stood up as she spoke and turned around on her heel, from the outside it really would have seemed as though Saitama was the unreasonable one here and with no other arguments left to give and no real explanation for what just happened the hero for fun relaxed in his seat, confused, angry, and once again understanding why he'd never tried to get a girlfriend in the past...Well aside from his not so attractive lifestyle and the fact that everyone he met kept their eyes glued to his dome.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I understand your concern, doctor but with all due respect the story you're telling us sounds a bit...Far fetched."

A man in a black suit delivered his opinion to Stitches who sat across the table, a deep frown now embedded in his multi-colored face. Since his run-in with the esper things hadn't been going very well for the up and coming physician.

He had no real excuse to give for the abrupt actions that nearly cost him his life. The world's most powerful esper was easy to provoke and violent incidents involving her temper were quite common, he'd hoped that explanation alone would be enough, though he soon found that his hopes were misplaced.

"Well what do you expect then? You think I did that much damage to the elevator with a few scalpels and a stethoscope?"

He kept his argument simple, in his near fatal encounter he'd truly learned why Tatsuaki was called the Tornado of Terror. Her breakdown lead to the elevator becoming warped and torn, broken and disfigured, it was a miracle the whole thing hadn't gone crashing down with them still in it. He couldn't be blamed for this, even if he was the one that provoked her it still wasn't behavior befitting that of S-Class, but the man before him seemed less concerned with the obvious issues in front of them, no he was more worried about interrogating Stitches and twisting the story to make him sound like a villain.

"Sure, an angry Tatsumaki. We've seen that quite often before, at this point we could probably justify a budget around damage caused by her and her methods, in fact she once crashed a meteor straight into a city to kill off a monster. Granted the place was practically decimated anyway but it doesn't change the fact that she herself is quite destructive."

The suited man trailed off there, getting his thoughts together before speaking again.

"I digress...We all know what she is capable of but that doesn't exactly excuse you for causing the situation in the first place. You see we have you on camera sprinting straight into headquarters and right down the hall into that little metal box...Very odd that you'd purposely set yourself up for a dangerous situation like that, would you mind evaluating on your enthusiasm a little more?"

The question made Stitches let out a frustrated sigh, his argument was completely invalidated by this logic, no matter what they'd see him as the suspicious one before they even turned an eye to the esper.

 _The rank two hero is a monster._

Those were words he just wanted to blurt out, the kind of words that would end this unnecessary interrogation and bring them to the matter at hand, but he found himself unable to do so. They wouldn't believe him. There's no way he'd do anything more than shut them up for a few minutes whilst they took in what he said, even if they did take him seriously the proof he had to confirm his suspicions would likely land him in custody before anything else. Well, custody that wasn't as lax as what he was dealing with now, as it stood he was just staring down a few middle aged men with nothing more than a few sheets of paper and maybe concealed weapons, so basically nothing worth being concerned about.

"Look, I happened to run into Tanktop on his way out and he was deeply concerned with running into Tatsumaki, you could even see the panic on his face. As the new medic in town I felt obligated to see what was happening for myself, Tatsumaki was the last patient in my care after all, I wanted to be the first one on the scene if there was something wrong."

He threw together another reasonable sounding excuse, taking the questionable glares into account as he spoke.

"If you need confirmation you could check in with Tanktop yourself, he ran into her first."

It was ridiculous that he had to go this far to protect himself when he was the victim, after all if they had footage of the elevator incident then they would surely know that he was telling the truth. Did they already know about Tatsumaki's situation? Was she similar to Zombieman, a man who by every definition could be classified as a monster but used his powers for good? He had no lead to go on aside from what he'd already seen with his own eyes and whatever those broken pieces he'd picked up in the elevator were, other than that he was basically on his own.

"Well then...I suppose we'll have to take that testimony into consideration and try to find out more on that later, what say we move on to another topic then? Namely your frantic ranting and the threats to stab anyone who got close AFTER you exited the elevator."

From one accusation to the next, it really shouldn't have surprised anyone when the doctor rammed his face into the table.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arguing with Tatsumaki had taken its toll on the bald warrior, after their frustrating talk she'd taken some time to herself and left him to deal with his confusion in the quiet.

That was an hour ago.

Saitama turned his head to his left, taking in the stack of white boxes present on the table. He'd answered the door and brought in the food in the time the esper was gone but he himself had yet to eat anything, he didn't want to risk being yelled at again because the stingy psycho-child wanted all of ten of those pies for herself, though the longer he waited the less he started to care about that eventuality.

What was she doing in there? He hadn't tried to do anything close to finding out, he thought it' be awkward to trouble her while she was in the bathroom, but maybe that was just him being overly worried about etiquette that didn't matter, after all he was the guest and she was the host, it was a bit unfair to him to have to wait, wasn't it? He didn't even know anymore, at this point he was hoping that all of this would have a smooth enough conclusion that he could take a few slices and head home as if nothing happened.

It was then that he heard a knock at the door, the second one since Tatsumaki had gone into the bathroom. He looked towards the front then stared at the bathroom door for awhile just in case the esper decided to come out before he got up and swiftly made his way over to answer the door. The visitor was exactly who he'd been waiting for.

"Oh hey Genos."

The casual greeting came from his mouth, his cool demeanor betraying the stress being put on him at that very moment.

"Sensei, I...How long have you been here?"

Rather than a greeting however Saitama instead received a relatively obvious question, he had of course done something mind boggling just to get there without his companion.

"Huh? Well I got here right after I hopped out of the bus so...Since then, I guess a few hours."

He didn't receive an immediate reply, his companion instead took a moment to show his surprise, then of course the resignation, giving the "Only Saitama could get away with this" kind of look, no words were necessary for him to explain himself further.

"And what about the Tornado?"

"There's a tornado?"

Saitama actually took him literally, leaving his disciple stunned for a moment, the baldy somehow completely forgot the esper's hero name. Ironic considering he berated her for not calling him by his own name.

"I mean Tatsumaki, sensei."

"Oh, her. That's complicated. Things were going okay but now she's kinda occupied."

The baldy let go of the door and retreated backwards into the suite once more, allowing the confused cyborg to follow him in.

"We were waiting for you to show up but then she started acting weird, now she won't come out of the bathroom."

"Is she feeling sick?"

"I dunno, I didn't eat anything and waited quietly because I thought she might get upset when she finally came out but it's been like this for awhile now. The only reason I haven't said anything up until now was because I considered the possibility that it might be a girl thing."

The mention of that topic silenced both men, neither really knowing how to handle the situation. On one hand they could be overreacting and on the other Tatsumaki may have been in some trouble and they had no clue which was the case. Genos would be the first to break the awkward silence.

"Maybe you should just knock and ask if she's alright, I don't think you'd look so bad just for making sure."

And that was the first thing Genos had said in a long time that Saitama agreed with, reluctant or no it was still better to be safe than to be sorry and so he heeded his disciples advice very carefully. He approached the door and gave a light knock, Genos standing against the wall beside him.

"Hey, Tatsumaki?"

He put his ear to door after calling out to her, might as well go the full mile to make sure she was alright. Then he waited quietly, a few seconds, then a full minute before calling out to her again.

"Taaaaats, you in there?"

He listened carefully but he didn't even hear the slightest breath, now he had no choice but to grab the handle.

"Hang on…! What do you want?"

Finally he'd heard her voice, a feeling of relief washing over him, at least he knew that she wasn't dying on the other side of the door.

"You feelin' alright in there? The food showed up awhile ago and you never came out…"

"Yes, I'm just...Um…"

Unbeknownst to Saitama, Tatsumaki was on the other side of the door doing the exact same thing he was, pinning her ear to the wood and listening quietly, she'd done so the moment he knocked the first time.

"Uh...I'm just looking through...makeup?"

She couldn't come up with anything better.

"Really? You wear makeup?"

"Yes...Well no. My sister got these for me a long time ago and I don't really get guests so I thought I'd try it."

She waited in silence for a moment.

"Oh."

A simplistic deadpan noise, she knew that her own argument was a bit hard to believe.

"Well, I guess I get that. You were still acting uh...Really weird earlier, you sure you don't need a doctor or-"

She panicked and cut him off.

"NO! I mean...No, I'm just cleaning up now, I'll be right out."

She instantly pulled away from the door and turned on the faucet, a little bit of white noise in the background to make her story that much more believable.

"Oh, alright...I'll just start eating then if that's alright with you."

"Sure."

Saitama then moved away from the door and looked to Genos.

"Told you it was just a girl thing."

His confidence had been reassured, now he could relax and sate his appetite. On the other side, Tatsumaki slid down against the door and caught her breath.

 _He bought it, thank goodness he bought it…_

She'd been through enough roller coasters for one day, her initial panic and running to the restroom was to do nothing more than to make sure that her face hadn't fallen apart again and once she was in the clear, devise a strategy to somehow cover up the detail she'd overlooked. Her first thought was quickly teleport to the association and come back before Saitama could notice, and for a little bit she actually tried to do that reckless strategy, though her powers picked the perfect time to be uncooperative. Panicked she then thought of maybe calling in and...Well her strategy ended there, she was a panicked little girl who'd never been in a corner like this before and so she panicked, nothing she could think of made sense and her feelings of helplessness only skyrocketed. It really did feel like the world was coming to an end.

Then after just five minutes she was calm again, all that emotion having drained away. If she were ruined then that was just it, she no longer cared, if they wanted to catch her then she would let them try, that was the uncaring attitude that settled in. Honestly, anything she'd tried to prevent this catastrophe only led to her making things worse, so why bother? She couldn't bring herself to do anything about her situation and so she sat down in a corner for half an hour, hoping Saitama would just leave, but obviously that wouldn't happen until his "friend" decided to drop in, so she was stuck regardless.

 _Whatever._

That was the only thing she could keep telling herself to make the bad thoughts go away, maybe the slight jump at the thought of Saitama calling a doctor was to be expected but other than that she really had run out of ideas. All she wanted now was to eat, get in bed and pray that she could enjoy that leisure for as long as she could.

And so without a second thought she rose from her spot on the floor, good ending or no, she was just about done with this nonsense today. She turned off the faucet and took a final glance in the mirror before finally opening the door.

"Urf-hey, yer back."

Saitama spoke whilst inhaling a slice of pizza straight from the box, if there was anything that could help Tatsumaki feel less anxious it was seeing her fellow uncaring, inhumanly powerful friend eat without a care in the world.

Friend…? Could she really call him that? At the very least he was as close as she'd gotten to one so far, so maybe he really could be one, maybe that was a far better alternative to making him keep his mouth shut out of fear. Then of course that feeling had to be ruined right away by her other guest.

"I'm glad to see you're alright Miss tatsumaki, Senssssssssssssss-"

Genos propped himself up off the wall and attempted to give some consolidating words to his fellow S-Class whilst putting a hand on her shoulder, but he'd made a brutal mistake in doing so abruptly. Saitama mentioned the pizza but he said nothing of Genos' arrival.

Across the room, through the bar, over the table and planted into a wall, that was the fate of the cyborg who startled the psychic. He was down for the count.

The shock of the moment threw the other two into a stunned silence for a long while, at least until the esper cleared her throat and tried to make up for her mistake.

"Uhm...The Cyborg friend?"

"Yep."

"Oh...Sorry about this, he kind of caught me by surprise...Should I?"

"Nah, I got him."

Saitama popped up out of his seat and moved to investigate the wreckage, looking to pull genos from his indent in the wall without accidentally breaking a piece of him off.

"That was some push, guess most monsters wouldn't survive that."

The caped baldy pushed his slice further into his mouth and held it there with his teeth so her could use both hands to grab onto Genos.

"Oh, let me just…"

He tried to get a good angle but struggled to do so, then a green hue overtook the cyborg and pulled him out of the wall with a cartoonish sounding "pop".

"Ah, thanks for that."

Saiitama gave his thanks then hoisted the disciple up onto his shoulders with minimal effort..

"Uh, guess I'll have to get him home now."

Someone getting flung into the wall was somehow the least surprising thing Saitama had witnessed today, in fact he was even considering it almost a blessing to have an excuse to move on with the day which had proved to be all but relaxing.

"Oh...Sorry again...It was a force of habit."

"No problem, Can I just take a few slices to go?"

"Yeah sure, just take the whole box."

A white pizza box levitated right off the table into Saitama's hands.

"Thanks. Oh and about your kitchen…"

"Don't worry about it, I think I'll just go ahead and move to A-City, that's what everyone else is doing anyway."

Big mistake? Probably, but if she were going to be in danger then she might as well get it over with, any more of this cat and mouse stuff and the next person she flung into a wall might not have been someone made of metal.

"Right right...I'll catch ya later then Tats. If you have another panic attack over lipstick you should probably call your sister about it next time."

A lighthearted joke, or maybe he was serious, regardless it made the esper far less subconscious about the lie she told him earlier, she certainly would not be looking into beauty products anytime soon.

"Oh and before I forget, you might wanna take the credit card off your head."

It took all she had not to make a dumbfounded noise at his words before he closed the door, she swiped her hand along her head and sure enough the little silver card had somehow stayed perfectly balanced on her head throughout this entire ordeal.

Reaching down to pick it up she realized that somehow after inviting the baldy in he'd managed to defuse every single bit of tension she had and even lighten her mood with his blank expression and straightforward replies. If she was looking for someone to trust then she'd probably found him.

"A friend? Yeah...I think I'd like that."


End file.
